FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chetrice Mosley
(317) 232-2379
Contact: Chetrice Mosley
(317) 232-2379
CyberMonday Shoppers
Should Declare Use Tax
Should Declare Use Tax
INDIANAPOLIS (Nov. 25,
2013) — Shoppers taking advantage of online and catalog sales this holiday
season are reminded to check if Indiana sales tax was collected with their
purchase.
Many online and
catalog companies fail to collect Indiana sales tax on Hoosier purchases. In
Indiana, consumers making these purchases are expected to pay a “use tax” if no
sales tax is collected.
“Use tax is
essentially a seven percent tax on any purchases where the regular Indiana
sales tax was not collected. If you make a purchase and the online or catalog
retailer does not collect Indiana’s seven percent sales tax, you are required
by law to pay that same seven percent as a use tax,” noted department spokesman
Bob Dittmer.
“When preparing your
2013 individual tax return at the end of the year, simply total those
purchases, take seven percent, and that’s your use tax. This does, of course,
require you to either keep records of your online or catalog purchases or to
rely upon your retailer to maintain a list for you (and many online retailers
do that).”
Last year, 28,853
taxpayers in Indiana reported use tax on their individual tax return, amounting
to more than $1.9 million. Each year, more than 3.1 million individual
income-tax returns are filed in Indiana.
Indiana has required
Hoosiers to pay use tax on their Indiana income tax return since 1969.
