The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue recently released its December 2017/January 2018 newsletter, which highlights tax developments over the past year in the following areas:
- the sales and use tax treatment and requirements for marketplace sales;
- important personal income tax filing dates;
- amnesty penalties; and
- property tax/rent rebate program applications.
See below for details and links for each of these areas.
Marketplace Sales
The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue has enacted legislation forcing certain entities facilitating, making, or referring sales to Pennsylvania customers to elect to either:
- register to collect and remit sales tax; or
- comply with certain notice and reporting requirements.
Marketplace facilitators, remote sellers and referrers must file an election if they had aggregate taxable sales in Pennsylvania worth at least $10,000 in the prior 12 months. The deadline for filing the election is March 1, 2018.
Customer information notices: Beginning April 1, 2018, Pennsylvania customers will receive information notices from businesses that elected not to collect sales tax. The information notice will list the products on which the seller did not collect sales tax, and those product’s prices.
Pennsylvania customers will also receive annual notices detailing their purchases of products on which the business did not collect tax. The business will also be required to report similar information to the department.
Pennsylvania also reminds individuals and businesses that purchase taxable items without paying Pennsylvania sales tax that they must self-report and pay the tax directly to the Department of Revenue.
See related post for more details
Personal Income Tax Filing
The Department of Revenue announced that the tax filing season will begin on January 22, 2018. Filers are reminded that filing electronically will help the Department of Revenue process tax returns more efficiently, leading to faster refunds. Returns are due by April 17, 2018, the deadline was extended this year due to Emancipation Day.
Amnesty Penalties
The Department of Revenue has started mailing penalty assessments to delinquent taxpayers who failed to participate in the 2017 tax amnesty program that took place from April 21, 2017 to June 19, 2017. During the program window, the Department of Revenue had mailed out a high volume of notices to taxpayers, whom had outstanding balances or missing tax filings in the state’s system, notifying them of the ability to participate in the amnesty program.
Accordingly, individuals and businesses that did not participate in the amnesty program are subject to a 5% penalty on unpaid amounts that were eligible for the program.
The program allowed taxpayers to pay past-due state taxes and have all of the penalties and half of the interest on those taxes waived.
See related post for more details
Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program Applications
Applications for the property tax/rent rebate program (Form PA-1000) are now available on the Department of Revenue website. The program allows eligible Pennsylvania property owners and renters to claim rebates on property taxes or rent paid in 2017. The application is due by June 30, 2018. Rebates will be distributed beginning July 1, 2018.
Claimants must reapply every year because rebates are based on annual income and property taxes or rent paid in each year.
To address your specific questions, please contact Bob Grossman or Shawn Firster at 412-338-9300.
