Ohio Use Tax Alert

Limited Amnesty Available for Unremitted Ohio Use Tax

Ohio is offering limited amnesty for unremitted Ohio use tax through its Use Tax Education Program (UTEP). The goals of the UTEP are to help businesses understand what use tax is, understand when businesses must remit the tax directly to Ohio, and contact 380,000 Ohio businesses with potential use tax liabilities.

Highlights of the program include:

• Businesses can use the regular voluntary disclosure agreement procedures with a three-year look back for use tax exposures through Aug. 1, 2011;

• After Aug. 1, 2011, the state will begin contacting businesses who are registered with the Ohio Department of Taxation or the Ohio Secretary of State who are not currently filing use tax returns. Businesses contacted by the state during this period will still be able to file for voluntary disclosure, but the look-back period is extended to four years; and

• Businesses contacted under the UTEP that fail to file under voluntary disclosure could have a significant audit risk. If audited, voluntary disclosure will not be available, and the Ohio Department of Taxation will assess tax, penalties, and interest for all prior years in which use tax returns were not filed without a limitation on the look-back period.

Additional information on Ohio’s UTEP can be found here.

Contact our office to discuss the applicability of this program to your situation.

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Ohio minimum wage to increase to $7.70 in 2012

The minimum wage in Ohio will increase to $7.70 per hour for non-tipped employees and to $3.85 per hour for tipped employees (plus tips) on January 1, 2012.

However, for those employees whose employers gross $283,000 or less per year and for minors ages 14 and 15 years old, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, which is tied to the federal rate.