Officials find thousands of small firms haven’t paid state’s business tax – Nashville Business Journal:

Officials find thousands of small firms haven’t paid state’s business tax – Nashville Business Journal:

Another article in this week’s Nashville Business Journal reports on a business issue that I have been aware of, but should on the minds of all business owners (file your reports and pay your taxes.) In “Officials find thousands of small firms haven’t paid state’s business tax”, NBJ reports that the shift of business tax administration away from county clerks entirely to the Tennessee Department of Revenue is revealing millions of dollars of unpaid business tax. “If the early pace continues, the department could well exceed its estimates that the takeover from county clerks would result in $20 million more in revenue to the state and $25 million more for local governments.” Dept. Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr encourages businesses that have not been paying their business tax to take advantage of the waiver of penalties and a shorter ‘look-back’ period (less back taxes) offered to those businesses that voluntarily come forward to report and pay the business taxes.

Maybe some of the unpaid taxes are due to an oversight by these businesses. County Clerks did not have the staff, resources or access to databases to follow-up with non-reporting business. Also, in the hectic life of a small business owner, things get lost in the shuffle. This is a reminder that record keeping, reporting and paying taxes are imperative parts of any business. For a list of a lot of those business hoops you must negotiate, go to http://www.business.hickmantn.org/ .

About Daryl Phillips, CEcD

I am a professional economic developer. I presently work for communities and companies in developing and implementing workforce and economic development solutions as CEO of Phillips Economic Development Solutions (Phi EDS). Prior to September 2017, I was the economic development professional who served a community team of elected officials, business people, community leaders and dedicated stakeholders for economic development in Cheatham County, Tennessee (pop. 39,880) and its four towns. During my five-year tenure, I served the team as Cheatham County grew over 1,700 jobs, turned around population declines at the start of this decade into healthy population growth, increased tourism expenditures 20.3% and local tax revenue from tourism 25.4%, grew sales tax revenue 36%, focused on developing the local workforce and was recognized by SmartAsset as having the 9th highest Incoming Investment Index of all the 95 counties in Tennessee. I am a member of International Economic Development Council, Southern Economic Development Council, Tennessee Economic Development Council and International Council of Shopping Centers. I have earned the designation of Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) from International Economic Development Council (IEDC), the Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP) certification from National Development Council and hold a Master of Business Administration from Tennessee Technological University.
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