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| State Ramping Up 'Use Tax' Collection |
(IRN)-With tax day just a few weeks away, the Illinois Department of Revenue is sending a message to taxpayers: don't forget to pay the taxes you owe for online and out of state purchases.
Hofer says the oft-forgotten "use tax" has been around since the 1950s. Back then it focused on catalog and out of state purchases.
Now, with the state doing all it can to boost revenues during a budget crisis, the Department of Revenue says it's up to people's consciences to pay what they owe the state under the use tax.
"If as a consumer, you have never bought anything online, never bought anything from a catalog and never bought anything and had it delivered to your house, then put zero," says Department of Revenue spokeswoman Sue Hofer. "Everything you buy is taxed when you buy it."
However, if out of state or online purchases have been made, Hofer says the state is making it easy to pay the use tax because they've provided a baseline level taxpayers can pay in case they haven't saved receipts for online or out of state purchases.
"On the first line of your tax form, you put down the adjusted gross income from your federal tax return," says Hofer. "And for every $10,000 of that adjusted gross income, we estimate you owe about $3 in use tax.'
She says the tax form will have instructions on how to figure the dollar amount.
As for big purchases, like a boat or an RV, Hofer says the department can find out if someone has purchased it out of state. She says registration in Illinois for the items as well as interstate communication between revenue departments when dealer audits turn up no taxes paid in other states are just two ways. Hofer says if they learn of someone not paying the use tax for a large item out of state, they'll send a bill.
(Source: Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 03 25 11 by Newsroom |
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