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Department of Revenue urges electronic notices as licenses and mailed correspondence surge
Summary
Department of Revenue officials told the revenue committee that licensed vendors have tripled in the past decade, creating substantial postage costs and compliance burdens. The department proposed using its YFS portal to deliver electronic notifications to filers while preserving mailed notices for paper filers.
The Wyoming Department of Revenue told the Joint Revenue Committee that electronic noticing and account-notification changes could reduce mailing costs and improve compliance after a rapid rise in licensed vendors.
Brett Fanning, excise tax administrator, summarized the department's findings: the number of licensed vendors has risen from about 16,000 in 2015 to roughly 26,000 in 2019 and to about 50,000 currently. He said "over half of those licenses have mailing addresses not in the state of Wyoming," and that roughly 9% of licenses use the same single Wyoming mailing address (about 4,000 licenses). Fanning reported that in December 2024 about 14,000 licensed vendors reported zero dollars of sales into Wyoming and roughly 17,000 reported no tax collections for that filing period. He said the excise tax division's unpaid-tax balance is about $40,000,000 and the department spent "over a hundred thousand dollars" on postage last fiscal year.
Fanning outlined the department's existing digital infrastructure: 70% of filers use the department's YFS electronic filing system; about 19% file via simplified electronic returns (a standardized CIR/SER format used across multiple states); and 10–15% still file paper returns. The Department of Revenue has already added automatic email reminders for YFS filers and sends hard-copy returns and quarterly newsletters to paper filers as a customer service.
On statute and process, Fanning noted multiple provisions in Title 39 that refer to written notices by mail (for example, statutes addressing mailing sufficiency, failure-to-file notices and deficiency assessments), and he summarized the typical revocation timeline: multiple notices, a best-information-available assessment if returns are not filed, and a posting of delinquent vendors if accounts are 150 days overdue and no payment plan is in place. He told members the revocation process generally spans months and allows appeal rights.
The department proposed a targeted approach: preserve mailed notices for taxpayers who elect paper filing or who use simplified electronic returns, but treat YFS accounts as a secure depository of official notices and send electronic alerts (email notifications) telling filers to log into their YFS account to read new correspondence. Fanning said attaching confidential documents to email raised security concerns, so the recommended pattern is a short email notification directing the filer to the secure YFS portal rather than emailing attachments.
Committee members asked for follow-up information; the department agreed to provide further data including breakdowns of agency-specific fees and federal funds, gaming tax flows, and more detail on delinquency and revocation activity.
