The California State Board of Equalization (BOE) today began sending letters to 5,188 retailers in 6 different zip codes notifying them of upcoming visits by BOE specialists. The affected zip codes receiving letters this month are: San Jose (95128, 95129, 95130, and 95131); Garden Grove (92840); and Temecula (92592).

The BOE specialists will be canvassing the areas to ensure that businesses are properly registered and paying taxes. The new enhanced compliance effort began in September 2008, with 130 zip codes already notified. Specialists have visited more than 74,000 businesses statewide.

These visits are part of the Statewide Compliance and Outreach Program (SCOP). The goal of these visits by the BOE specialists is to ensure all businesses are properly registered so there is no unfair business advantage over those businesses that are properly registered and reporting their taxes and/or fees. A recent two-year pilot estimated that more than three percent of businesses operating in California do so without the appropriate permits or licenses that allow for collection of sales and use tax, as well as other taxes and fees. Non-compliance is a part of the more than $2 billion sales and use tax gap. The tax gap is the difference between the amount of taxes owed and the amount paid.

The BOE specialists will conduct checks for seller’s permits of all storefronts and other known business locations.  When the specialists visit, business owners will be asked business-related questions and not be asked for personal financial information. If an owner has questions about the inquiries from the specialists, they should call their regional SCOP team contact or the Taxpayer Information Call Center at 800-400-7115.

There are seven teams of approximately eight people each located throughout the state that began their door-to-door visits based on zip code. Registered retailers will be checked for appropriate permits and licenses, as well as service industry businesses, especially if the particular service industry also sells taxable retail items. Those businesses found to be out of compliance will be given instructions on how to register with the BOE and given information about other necessary licenses. For more information on the Statewide Compliance and Outreach Program, click here.

Tags: BOE, business permits, news, state board of equalization

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 4:02 am and is filed under Tax News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.