Filing season now open

The 2018 tax-filing season, for 2017 returns, is now officially open. Click here for details.

Two new Administrative Decisions

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

• Decision 2018-01 looks at whether a cigarette dealer owes "other tobacco products" (OTP) tax.
• Decision 2018-02 looks at whether a construction company owes sales and use tax.

Extended hours today for amnesty

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation today will offer extended office hours for amnesty.

The Division normally closes to the public at 3:30 p.m., but will stay open this evening until 6:00 p.m. for amnesty purposes. 

To learn more, click here.

Hearing in February on film tax regulation

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation plans to hold a public hearing on February 8, 2018, on proposed changes to its regulation involving the motion picture production tax credit (also known as the film tax credit).


Among other things, the Division would:

• add a requirement that costs be arms-length transactions to qualify as costs for purposes of the credit;
• delete video games from the definition of a motion picture;
• change the language involving the sunset provision so that it reflects a recent update in the underlying law; and
• change the regulation's format so that it complies with the Rhode Island Code of Regulations, a uniform state code.

A hearing on the proposed regulation was held earlier this month. However, because of an inter-agency scheduling matter, the hearing must be held again. For more information, click here.

Other regulations filed

The Division of Taxation continues to periodically file proposed and final regulations with the Rhode Island Department of State (Secretary of State).

Most of these have to do with the Division's months-long effort to streamline and re-codify its regulations. For the most recent such activity involving proposed regulations, click here. For the most recent such activity involving regulations filed as final, click here.

Office open tomorrow for amnesty

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation tomorrow will offer extended office hours for amnesty.

The Division will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon on Saturday, January 20, 2018, to handle inquiries and provide other amnesty-related assistance to taxpayers and their advisers.

For more information about Saturday office hours for amnesty – and about amnesty itself, click here.

Extended office hours tonight for amnesty

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation this evening will offer extended office hours for the state tax amnesty program. 

• The deadline for filings and payments related to amnesty is exactly four weeks from tonight.

The Division's office, at One Capitol Hill in Providence, Rhode Island, is normally open to the public until 3:30 p.m. However, as a convenience for taxpayers and tax professionals, the Division will remain open to the public until 6:00 p.m. this evening, January 18.

The Division also will offer extended office hours this Saturday, January 20, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. To learn more about this and other dates for extended hours during amnesty, click here.

Employers warned about W-2 scam

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation, the Internal Revenue Service, and other Security Summit partners today urged all employers to educate their payroll personnel about a Form W-2 phishing scam that made victims of hundreds of organizations and thousands of employees last year.

The Form W-2 scam has emerged as one of the most dangerous phishing emails in the tax community. During the last two tax seasons, cybercriminals tricked payroll personnel or people with access to payroll information into disclosing sensitive information for entire workforces. To learn more, click here.

Filing season starts January 29

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation announced today that the filing season for Rhode Island resident and nonresident personal income tax returns will begin on Monday, January 29, 2018.

The Division also announced details on the April filing deadline, business returns, withholding, the annual sales tax reconciliation, sales permit renewals, and other matters.

To view the Advisory, click here. 

Tax amnesty: Extended office hours today

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation's extended office hours for the state tax amnesty program take effect today, Tuesday, January 16.

The Division's office, at One Capitol Hill in Providence, Rhode Island, is normally open to the public until 3:30 p.m.

However, as a convenience for taxpayers and tax professionals, the Division will remain open to the public until 6:00 p.m. this evening.

To learn more about this and other dates for extended hours during amnesty, click here.

Non-collecting retailers, retail sale facilitators

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation today issued a reminder for non-collecting retailers and retail sale facilitators about reporting and notice requirements. To learn more about this subject, which involves sales tax and use tax, click here.

Extended office hours for amnesty

The Division of Taxation today announced extended office hours for Rhode Island's state tax amnesty program. Amnesty filings and payments are due five weeks from tomorrow, on February 15, 2018. For details, click here.

Tax professionals alerted about fraud

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation, the Internal Revenue Service, and other members of the Security Summit warned tax professionals this afternoon about a new round of online fraud.

Cybercriminals are using emails posing as potential clients, or as tax agencies, to trick tax practitioners into disclosing sensitive information, the Security Summit warned. To learn more, click here.

Reminder on compliance program

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation today issued a reminder to state and local government employees about Rhode Island’s Public Employee Tax Compliance Act.

Under that law, the State of Rhode Island and all political subdivisions (including cities, towns, and other entities, such as fire districts) must periodically provide a list of their employees to the Rhode Island Division of Taxation.

The Division of Taxation must use the information from each such list to determine if any of the employees may be delinquent on their Rhode Island state taxes. If so, the Division must send each such person a notice that the taxpayer may not be in compliance.

Two recent mailings

The Division of Taxation recently sent out approximately 3,600 such notices, in two separate mailings: 

• The first notice -- in a mailing on December 13, 2017 -- says that the recipient might not be in compliance with Rhode Island state tax laws because the recipient did not file a 2016 Rhode Island personal income tax return. (The recipient is advised to file a completed and signed return -- or provide a letter of explanation.)
• The second notice -- in a mailing on December 29, 2017 -- says that the recipient might not be in compliance with Rhode Island state tax laws because the recipient has a Rhode Island tax balance due. 

Overall, the Division mailed “tax balance due” notices to: 

• 1,194 city/town/local employees - out of a total of 28,777 city/town/local employees reviewed  
• 742 state employees - out of a total of 15,093 state employees reviewed

 Overall, the Division mailed “did not file return” notices to:

• 1,152 city/town/local employees - out of a total of 28,777 city/town/local employees reviewed
• 490 state employees - out of a total of 15,093 state employees reviewed

Details of notices

Each notice advises that if the recipient fails to take corrective action by a certain date in January 2018, the Division will begin the steps necessary to garnish wages. Each notice also shows how the recipient may obtain information about taxpayer rights and responsibilities. (In each notice, the Division of Taxation is required by law to include information about wage garnishment and about taxpayer rights. Each notice also includes information on how to contact the Division of Taxation.)

If any public employees feel that they have received one or more of these notices in error, they should contact the Division’s Collections section immediately. (See below for details.) The Division is always ready and willing to work with taxpayers and/or their advisors. In this matter, the agency has allocated extra resources to make sure that it responds as quickly as possible – and to proactively confirm the delinquency, or let the taxpayers know that they are current on their filing and payment obligations.

Projected amount owed

Overall, the notice recipients owe a projected $2,884,042 in Rhode Island state taxes in the aggregate. (The average owed is $1,490. The mean amount owed is $293.) However, for a variety of reasons, it is possible that some, or all, of the projected amount in any given notice sent by the Division may not ultimately result in an owed tax debt. For example, a person’s proposed delinquency as shown in the notice may not reflect the impact of a carryforward from a prior tax year.

Background

Legislation enacted in 2014 created the “Compliance of Public Employees With State Income Tax Act”. (The short title is the “Public Employee Tax Compliance Act”.) The Division sent out its first round of notices to delinquent public employees shortly after the legislation was enacted. As a result, the Division has collected $632,231 through October 2017.

The second round of such notices was mailed last month – following the Division’s multi-year project involving the conversion to a new agency-wide computer system.

The Public Employee Tax Compliance Act is contained in Rhode Island Public Law 2014, chapter 145, article 12, § 3, which is codified at Rhode Island General Laws § 44-69-1 et seq.

To contact the Division of Taxation’s Collections section, call (401) 574-8941 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. business days, or email: Tax.Collections@tax.ri.gov. The Collections section is located in the Division of Taxation office, which is at One Capitol Hill, Providence, Rhode Island, diagonally across from the Smith Street entrance of the State House.

Office closing due to storm

The Rhode Island Division of Taxation will be closed on Thursday, January 4, 2018, due to the winter storm. Rhode Island tax information is available on the agency's website, www.tax.ri.gov.