Saturday, April 14, 2012

In the April 11th. Edition of the Big Island Weekly, Editor, Yisa Var wrote an informative story titled: "Selective auditing". I am sure that many of us read BIWeekly, but there may be some that have not, so I decided to post some of the information here. The article speaks about the State's ability and intent to visit our local markets and inspect vendor's booths to insure that all vendors display their General Excise Tax license and have receipt books available for inspection.

The Cash Economy Enforcement Act of 2009 "....provides the department with additional resources and tools to target high risk, cash based transactions to shore up confidence in Hawaii's tax system. In this regard, this measure ensures that all sectors of Hawaii's economy, including those prone to substantial underreporting, are paying their fair share of taxes." This task force is authorized to inspect, without notice, books, records and premises and issue citations for violations. Those who failed inspection could be slapped with a fee of a thousand dollars or more. (www.state.hi.us/tax/announce/2004_09/ann09-08.pdf).

None of us like paying taxes of any kind, but this is a reality and must be addressed. As vendors, we are not paying a tax to the State of Hawaii, we are merely "sales tax collectors" for them. Please protect your business and incomes and do what needs to be done. Mahalos to Yisa Var and the Big Island Weekly for the information. J. Osprey 



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