California Board of Equalization (BOE) Steps up Sales and Use Tax Enforcement
7/2/2010
Many of you may recall receiving a notice or series of notices from the California BOE regarding registration for the California Sales and Use Tax. If you did and forgot to follow up, or simply didn’t because you had no sales or use tax to report, the BOE will shortly be reminding you about it, if they haven’t already.
The BOE is currently starting to send notices out to all businesses and/or persons registered in their system. These new notices are final reminders that all registered taxpayers MUST file sales and use tax returns for both the 2007 and 2008 tax years, and probably 2009 if you didn’t already do so. Many of you might be assuming you have no reason to comply, and that assumption is likely incorrect.
Early in 2009, the state revised statutes such that the BOE is now authorized to require ALL taxpayers with over $100,000 in gross revenue to register with the BOE for the Sales and Use tax. As you might recall, simply receiving this notice means you have been registered in some fashion already. You might also recall that this registration carried with it a requirement to file delinquent sales and use tax returns for 2007 and 2008 along with your 2009 filing, even if those filings are to report zero taxable receipts!
So, if you forgot to file your 2007, 2008 and 2009 Sales and Use tax returns with the state BOE, you will likely be receiving a notice reminding you that you need to do so, even if it’s to report no tax due. This is the second step the BOE is taking on the path to likely conducting wide-ranging sales and use tax audits of taxpayers, so properly filing these delinquent returns is in everyone’s best interest – yours and the State of California’s.