News conference for amnesty kick-off

Rhode Island Tax Administrator Neena Savage met with the news media today to discuss details of Rhode Island's tax amnesty program, which kicks off tomorrow. For details, click here.

Rhode Island Tax Administrator Neena Savage at tax amnesty news conference

W-2 email scam targets employers

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation, the Internal Revenue Service, and other partners in the Security Summit warn the nation’s business, payroll, and human resource communities about a growing W-2 email scam that threatens sensitive tax information held by employers. For details, click here.

Protecting financial accounts

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation, the Internal Revenue Service, and other partners in the Security Summit have outlined steps that data theft victims may take to protect their financial accounts and their identities. For details, click here.

Watch out for phishing schemes

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation, the Internal Revenue Service, and other Security Summit partners issued a caution today about email phishing schemes. For details, click here.

Be vigilant when shopping online

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation, the Internal Revenue Service, and other partners in the Security Summit remind people to be vigilant with their personal information during the online holiday shopping season. 

Guarding your personal information online can limit the chance a criminal has to steal your identity and use it to file a fraudulent income tax return for a refund. To learn more, click here.

Amnesty starts a week from today

Rhode Island's tax amnesty program will begin one week from today. The Division of Taxation will begin accepting amnesty paperwork and payments on December 1, 2017. For more information, click here.

Inflation-adjusted amounts for TY 2018

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation today announced the standard deduction amounts, tax bracket ranges, and other key figures for the Rhode Island personal income tax for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2018. For details, click here.

Proposed regulation - insurance premium tax rate

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation has posted a regulation that has to do with a recently enacted law involving Rhode Island’s insurance premium tax rate.

The law, enacted in June 2016, is intended to encourage insurance companies to create jobs in Rhode Island by linking Rhode Island’s insurance premium tax rate to the number of jobs created by the
industry in Rhode Island. Adding new jobs in the state could trigger a reduction in the tax rate insurance companies will pay.

The tax rate reduction is designed to be revenue-neutral by requiring that any reduction in insurance company tax rates is fully offset by the income tax generated from the newly created jobs.

• The new regulation sets the standards by which the number of jobs at qualifying insurers is calculated. 
• The new regulation also identifies whether the statutory criteria was met during calendar year 2016 to reduce the insurance premium tax rate.

The regulation is to take effect December 21, 2017. Public comments are invited. For more information, click here.

Public hearing on regulations

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation has posted a public hearing for December on proposed changes involving 12 regulations.

The proposed changes are part of the agency's months-long effort to streamline and re-codify its regulations. 

• The proposals mainly involve revisions to ensure that 11 of the regulations are presented in the new Rhode Island Code of Regulations format. 
• For one of the regulations, involving tax collections and trusts funds, the Division proposes repeal because the regulation simply repeats statute.

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time on December 7, 2017. More information is available on the website of the Rhode Island Department of State (Secretary of State). To learn more, click here. A table of the regulations is below.

Regulations for hearing December 7, 2017

Bibles and Other Canonized Scriptures

Billboards and Signs

Clothing, Clothing Accessories

Delivery Charges

Exemption of Sales by Writers, Composers and Artists

Finance Charges

Mobile and Manufactured Homes

Pet Care Services

Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement

Tax Collections – Trust Funds

Materialmen – Pay When Paid

Florists

For full titles of each regulation, and additional information, see Department of State (Secretary of State) website: www.sos.ri.gov

Interest rates for 2018

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation has posted the interest rates that will apply in 2018 to overpayments and underpayments. For more information, click here.

Amnesty starts two weeks from today

Rhode Island’s tax amnesty starts two weeks from today. For details, click here.

Estate tax adjustments for 2018

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation today announced the estate tax credit amount and threshold for the estates of decedents dying on or after January 1, 2018. For more information, click here.

Expiring ITINs

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a reminder for taxpayers with expiring Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to submit their renewal applications as soon as possible -- or face complications later on.

ITINs are used by people who have tax filing requirements under U.S. law but are not eligible for a Social Security number. For more information, click here.

Tax amnesty advertising campaign

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation this week launched an extensive advertising campaign to help spread the word about Rhode Island’s new tax amnesty program, which starts December 1.

Amnesty ads began appearing this week on local radio stations. Amnesty ads have also been posted on many local news websites and on a major web search engine (see screenshot below). To learn more, click here.

Annual e-file shutdown and switchover

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation’s annual electronic filing shutdown and switchover will occur on November 18, 2017.

Thus, individuals and businesses seeking to e-file their Rhode Island returns for tax year 2016
must do so on or before Saturday, November 18, 2017. 

After that date, returns for tax year 2016 must be filed on paper. To learn more, click here.

Motor fuel tax regulations

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation plans to hold a public hearing on November 29 as the agency continues its months-long effort to streamline and re-codify its regulations.

The November 29 hearing involves eight regulations relating to the motor fuel tax. The Division proposes to repeal seven of them, merge their content into a new one, and ensure that the new one is presented in the new Rhode Island Code of Regulations format.

The proposals are available for viewing on the Rhode Island Secretary of State (Rhode Island Department of State) website at: www.sos.ri.gov. 

• The hearing will begin at 1:30 p.m. on November 29, 2017, at One Capitol Hill, Providence, R.I., diagonally across Smith Street from the State House.