Recent developments

Preparations are under way for Rhode Island's tax amnesty, which begins in December. The Division of Taxation has posted a summary of amnesty information – some highlights, at a glance – for those tax professionals and taxpayers who are eager for information well in advance. To view, click here.

Rhode Island Director of Revenue Robert S. Hull has praised the work of the Rhode Island Division of Taxation, the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, and the City of Providence Police Department for their efforts in securing criminal indictments in a case that involved drugs, money laundering, and tax evasion. To learn more, click here.

Two new Administrative Decisions

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation has posted two new Administrative Decisions:

• Decision 2017-10 involves whether a claim for a personal income tax refund was timely filed.
• Decision 2017-11 looks at whether the Division correctly denied the taxpayer's historic tax credits.

Regulatory hearing set for October

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation plans to hold a hearing on October 18, 2017, on proposed actions involving eight regulations. 

The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Department of Administration building at One Capitol Hill in Providence, Rhode Island, diagonally across from the Smith Street entrance to the State House. 

The proposed changes – some of which involve presenting regulations in the new Rhode Island Code of Regulation format – are available for review on the Rhode Island Secretary of State website (click here). A summary of the proposed regulatory actions is in the table below.

Proposed regulatory actions
Regulation topic	Old #	Action:	New #	Reason
Access to public records	n/a	Amend	280-RICR-20-00-3	Stand-alone regulation separate from Dept. of Revenue; new format
Bank excise tax	BE 95-01	Repeal	n/a	Reg. merely restates existing statute
Compassion center surcharge	CCS 11-01	Repeal	n/a	Reg. merely restates existing statute
Taxpayer rights and responsibilities	TRR 98-01	Amend	280-RICR-20-00-4	New format
Sale of real estate by nonresidents	NRW 95-02	Repeal	n/a (see below)	Merging into new regulation
Sale of real estate by nonresident LLCs	NRW 95-03	Repeal	n/a (see below)	Merging into new regulation
Withholding on sale of real estate by nonresidents	NRW 91-01	Repeal	n/a (see below)	Merging into new regulation
Withholding tax on sale of real estate by nonresidents	n/a	Adopt	280-RICR-20-10-1	Consolidating three regulations scheduled for repeal (see above)

Final regulations

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation last week filed, as final, recent actions it has taken involving nine regulations. 

The filing -- which came after a public hearing was held on August 30 -- is part of a broader effort to streamline the agency’s regulations. The streamlining process includes eliminating some regulations, consolidating some, and changing regulations to a new standardized format. 

A summary of the finalized regulatory actions, which are effective October 3, 2017, is in the table below. To view the regulations, click here.

Regulatory actions last week
Regulation topic	Old #	Action:	New #	Reason
Administrative hearing procedures	AHP 97-01	Amended	280-RICR-20-00-2	New format; updated
Administrative rules of practice	AF 90-01	Amended	280-RICR-20-00-1	New format; new name:
Apportionment of franchise tax	FT 09-01	Repealed	n/a	Franchise tax law has been repealed
Bank deposits tax	BDT 95-01	Amended	280-RICR-20-05-1	New format; updated
Deadlines for filing sales tax	SU 87-32	Repealed	n/a (see below)	Merged into new regulation
Personal income tax filing deadlines	PIT 98-7	Repealed	n/a (see below)	Merged into new regulation
Filing deadlines (for all taxes)	n/a	Adopted	280-RICR-20-00-7	Consolidating two regulations into one
Offers in compromise	OC 98-01	Amended	280-RICR-20-00-6	New format; updated
Declaratory rulings	DR 03-01	Amended	280-RICR-20-00-5	New format; minor revisions; updated

Calendar-year C corps on extension

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation reminds tax professionals and businesses that calendar-year C corporations are allowed a six-month extension.

Thus, for calendar-year C corporations who are filing on extension for tax year 2016, the extended due date is October 16, 2017. For more information, click here.

Deadline tomorrow

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation reminds tax professionals and taxpayers that tomorrow, September 15, is the deadline for certain payments, filings, and extensions. For more information on this and other topics, click here. 

Security Summit: Promptly report data losses

The Internal Revenue Service, state tax agencies, and the tax industry -- working together as the Security Summit -- urge practitioners to immediately report data losses.

"The IRS, the states and the nation’s tax community continue to make progress in the battle against tax-related identity theft," IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in a statement today. "But we need the help of tax professionals across the country to help strengthen this effort. In addition to working to ensure the safety of their systems, practitioners should promptly report identity theft or data breaches to help protect their clients," he said.

For more information, click here.

Security Summit: Make data security a priority

The Internal Revenue Service, state tax agencies,  and the tax industry -- which are working together as the Security Summit -- today urged tax professionals to make data security an everyday priority.

The Security Summit noted that a few simple steps can go far in protecting taxpayer information from cybercriminals. To find out more, click here.