Ohio General Tax Amnesty – May 1 through June 15, 2012

Ohio’s General Tax Amnesty program begins today and runs through June 15, 2012. The program allows deliquent taxpayers to self-report essentially all Ohio taxes (except consumer’s use tax) that were due on or before May 1, 2011, including sales tax, personal income tax, commercial activity tax, pass-through entity tax and employer withholding tax. Taxes for which an audit has been commenced, or for which an assessment or bill has been issued, do not qualify.

In exchange for self-reporting, all penalties and one-half of the interest which would otherwise be charged to the taxpayer are waived. To participate in the amnesty program, the taxpayer must complete an application, file returns for the periods being reported and make full payment of the deliquent taxes. Additionally, if the taxpayer is not already registered with the Ohio Department of Taxation, it must register through the Ohio Business Gateway or by calling the Tax Commissioner’s office. After submitting the required information and payment to the Tax Commissioner, the taxpayer will be informed within 30 days of whether participation in the program has been approved.

During the amnesty program, however, taxpayers may still resolve past Ohio tax liabilities through voluntary disclosure, which has a limited look-back period unlike the amnesty program which requires all delinquent taxes to be paid since the taxpayer began doing business in Ohio. Therefore, a taxpayer considering participation in the amnesty program should also consider a voluntary disclosure, which may be more beneficial depending upon the taxpayer’s particular situation even though the taxpayer would have to pay the entire interest on the liability being reported.

More information concerning Ohio’s General Tax Amnesty program can be found in our previous post and on the Tax Commissioner’s website at http://ohiotaxamnesty.gov/businesses/faq.

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