(INDIANAPOLIS) – The Indiana Department of Revenue (DOR) was nationally recognized today for having “the best sales tax practices amongst all states” by the Council of State Taxation (COST). Indiana DOR received an A- on COST’s grading scale.
COST serves as a non-profit trade association based in Washington, D.C. consisting of approximately 550 multistate corporations engaged in interstate and international business. 2018 was the first year COST conducted a sales and use tax only analysis amongst states with the goal of improving tax administrative systems and therefore ultimately increase compliance.
States are evaluated on several categories, including:
- Exemptions for business inputs
- Fair sales tax administrative practices
- Centralized administration of state and local sales taxes
- Sales tax simplification and transparency
- Fair tax payment and credits administration
- Reasonable audit and refund procedures
“To be recognized as the nation’s best is a testament to our team’s dedication to delivering best-in-class customer service, and ultimately reaching our agency’s vision to become the nation’s premier tax administrator,” said DOR Commissioner Adam Krupp.
“We pride ourselves in fundamental concepts of transparency, fairness and simplification. Years of work partnering with Indiana’s lawmakers to simplify our sales tax laws and our recent emphasis on being a fair, reasonable and efficient tax administrator have clearly paid off.”
The top four states (Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin) score high on fair audit and refund procedures, exemption of business inputs and have adopted the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement that simplifies the sales tax process.
All but five states impose sales taxes, which in fiscal year 2016 raised more than $363 billion in tax revenue for the remaining states. The full COST report can be found online at https://bit.ly/2HL49n4.
To learn more about sales tax in Indiana, visit the DOR website at https://www.in.gov/dor/3986.htm.
