Committee advances multiple business-and-tax-code changes to ease taxpayer compliance

Treasurer’s Office staff presented proposed administrative and code changes intended to simplify compliance for businesses and clarify collection procedures.

Amanda Confried of the Treasurer’s Office told the committee the package includes: (1) an amendment to quarterly filing and payment rules for payroll expense taxes and gross receipts taxes that exempts residential lessors with less than $1,000,000 in city gross receipts from quarterly payments, requires quarterly payments be the lower of 25% of current-year or prior-year liability, lowers the penalty for underpayment to 5% with no interest, and allows taxpayers to elect to carry over overpayments to subsequent tax periods; (2) an ordinance to remove a $100 minimum penalty and to remove fees and administrative requirements for duplicate registration certificates (continued to Jan. 25 at department request); (3) an ordinance to limit late fees on unpaid administrative-citation penalties to 40% and to allow serving administrative citations by regular mail instead of posting; and (4) an ordinance delegating authority to the tax collector to administer excess proceeds claims after tax-sale completion, consistent with state revenue-and-tax-code requirements.

Confried said the changes mainly affect larger businesses (those with over $1 million in gross receipts) and residential landlords, and that the proposals aim to reduce administrative burden and unnecessary refunds. Committee members questioned carry-forward time limits and coordination among departments; Confried and budget staff clarified that the carry-forward would be at taxpayer request and that appeals and the excess-proceeds process are governed by state law. The committee moved the items (or continuance in the case of item 7) forward with positive recommendations.