FollowA tax amnesty program began in the city of LA September 1, 2013 and will continue through December 2, 2013. Amnesty on City of LA taxes will include:
- Business
- Utility Users
- Commercial Tenant’s Occupancy
- Transient Occupancy
- Parking Occupancy
In order to qualify, taxpayers must meet the following requirements:
- All principal, interest and fees must be paid
- The taxpayer must sign and return the Tax Amnesty Billing notice (not including penalties paid prior to Sept 1, 2013)
- A taxpayer who is currently registered with the Office of Finance and has received a bill for outstanding taxes may file for amnesty and pay that bill online.
Once the amnesty period is over, the Office of Finance will be pursuing:
- An additional 10% negligence penalty
- Expanded audit program
- Expanded on-site investigations
- Data matching with governmental agencies to identify unregistered businesses
- Whistleblower program
- Referral to outside collection and credit reporting services
- Possible legal action
- Publication of a taxpayer’s tax debt
- Revocation of a taxpayer’s police permit to operate parking lots or;
- Recording of a tax lien on business real and personal property
The City of LA will be including any person who is involved in a trade, calling, occupation, vocation, profession, or other means of making money within the city. Businesses that conduct business inside the city but who operate outside of it, may also be subject to the tax if they are doing business within the city for 7 or more days per year.
Some cities, such as Woodland Hills are referred to by their district name, rather than Los Angeles even though they are part of LA. Taxpayers will need to make sure their district will be subject to city taxes.
It’s also important that business owners have filed the correct business classification as it will affect their tax rate.
Business license tax are measured by gross receipts that are based on in-city activity. There are a number of rulings defined by the City, to guide taxpayers on how to determine the amount of gross receipts that will be subject to taxes. It’s important for a business owner to reviews the rulings if they are operating within the City, but have little in-city gross receipts or if they have a large number of gross receipts but little activity.
For tax help and information please contact Kevin Thompson CPA at
kevin@kevinthompsoncpa.com or call him @ (310) 450-4625.
