BOE Visiting Businesses/ Bay Area Council Outlook

Please see below information about Board of Equalization check of business licenses. Are you compliant? Even if you have not received a letter they are going to continue to send letters and visit businesses so you might want to make sure you have everything in place.

Yesterday I attended the Bay Area Business Councils Outlook program. Some great speakers at the event including Condy Rice, Governor Jerry Brown and President Bill Clinton. The most interesting speaker to me was George Halverson CEO of Kaiser. He talked about the cost of Health Care and said the US was now spending $2.8 trillion dollars a year which if it were a country would be the fifth largest GDP in the world. One statistic I found very interesting was that last year there were 1.7 million cases of staff infections in the US. These are almost totally preventable and increase the cost of the procedures 200%.

The other interesting thing that was mentioned by President Clinton is that the US is obviously concerned about the number of baby boomers coming into the system but once we get past this blip it is projected that the US population will be younger than China. Somewhat sobering however to someone that is a baby boomer.

Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA 94116
shauge@cal-insure.com
415-680-2188

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BOE Visits Retailers Statewide to Check Business Permits
Retailers and Businesses Notified of SCOP Team Visits
Sacramento – Retailers and businesses in eleven California zip code areas can expect to receive letters from the Board of Equalization (BOE) notifying them about visits from the Statewide Compliance and Outreach Program (SCOP) Team. The purpose of the visits are to educate retailers and business owners on sales and use tax reporting responsibilities, increase tax compliance, and to help make our tax system fair and equal for all Californians.

This month, 9,255 letters were sent to retailers and businesses in the following zip codes: La Habra (90631); Sherman Oaks (91423); Encinitas (92024); Tracy (95304, 95376, 95377 and 95391); Vernalis (95385); Santa Rosa (95407); Huntington Beach (92646); and Riverside (92508).

Since 2008, the BOE SCOP Teams have visited more than 343,600 businesses in 427 zip codes statewide to verify that retailers and businesses are registered and to make sure that noncompliant businesses do not have an unfair advantage over registered businesses that are reporting their sales and use taxes and/or fees to BOE.

Seven SCOP Teams located statewide (Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Van Nuys, Norwalk, Irvine and Riverside) conduct door-to-door in person visits based on zip code and check seller’s permits at stores and other known retail and business locations. Business owners are asked only business-related questions. The SCOP Team does not inquire about personal financial information. SCOP teams check that registered retailers, as well as service industry businesses, have appropriate permits and licenses. Businesses found to be out of compliance are given instructions on how to register with the BOE and given information about other necessary licenses.

BOE has found that about 2 percent of businesses operating in California do so without permits or licenses that allow for collection of sales and use taxes and other taxes and fees. Noncompliance is a contributor to the more than $2 billion sales and use “tax gap” which is the difference between the amount of taxes owed and the amount of taxes paid.

If business owners have questions, they may contact their local SCOP Team in Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Van Nuys, Norwalk, Irvine or Riverside, visit the SCOP website, or call our Taxpayer Information Call Center at 800-400-7115.
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The five-member California State Board of Equalization is a publicly elected tax board. The BOE collects more than $50 billion annually in taxes and fees supporting state and local government services. It hears business tax appeals, acts as the appellate body for franchise and personal income tax appeals, and serves a significant role in the assessment and administration of property taxes. For more information on other taxes and fees in California, visit www.taxes.ca.gov.