By KWGS News
Oklahoma City, OK – Legislation cleared by a House Appropriations and Budget subcommittee would simplify the reporting required of businesses in Oklahoma and punish businesses for defrauding the state with the use of a "zapper."
House Bill 2576, by state Rep. Pat Ownbey, authorizes the Oklahoma Tax Commission to shut down a business if it is caught with a "zapper".
"The zapper is the size of a flash drive and plugs into a cash register," said Ownbey. "It erases selected transactions in order to defraud the state of that business paying all the taxes that are due. For example, a restaurant could drop off the purchase of a steak so that it would not pay a sales tax on the steak. If a business is caught under my legislation, the tax commission has the authority to close it down and the owner is not eligible for another tax permit for 10 years."
The use of zappers began in Canada and has now been found on the East Coast, Ownbey said.
"States like Arkansas and Georgia have already addressed this problem in legislation," Ownbey said. "Oklahoma needs to get ahead of it also, to make sure we have laws to address the use of zappers."
House Bill 2576 also synchronizes the due dates on various reports, changes a requirement for monthly withholding reports to quarterly withholding reports, and simplifies the deadline after which a late report is penalized.
"Right now, a restaurant files a mixed beverage report, a sales tax report and a withholding tax report on a monthly basis. These three reports are all due on different dates," said Ownbey. "My legislation would make them all due on the same date. It also reduces paperwork by requiring quarterly withholding reports instead of monthly. Finally, employers would pay a penalty if they are late more than 15 days rather than if they fail to correct the problem by the last day of the month."
The legislation also allows the Oklahoma Tax Commission to get an immediate temporary restraining order from the court when shutting down a business that never filed for a tax permit.
"My legislation deals with new problems such as the zapper and old problems, like too much paperwork," Ownbey said.
House Bill 2576 was approved in the Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on General Government and Transportation and now proceeds to the House floor for consideration.