Business owners irked at request

Local small businesses are bemoaning a state action to charge businesses a fee to collect sales tax.

As part of an effort to clean up its records, the state Department of Taxation and Finance is asking all registered sales tax vendors to apply to renew their certificates of authority. As part of the application, the department is charging each business that files quarterly or monthly $50.

"Actually, the state should be paying us to collect their sales tax for them," said Diane M. Nier, who owns and operates Bait Barn Trash Removal in Sackets Harbor with her husband, Ronald H. Nier Sr. "They're charging us to do something for them, and that seems a little backward."

Department spokesman Thomas M. Bergin said the department estimates there are 600,000 active businesses. The $50 fee therefore would generate about $30 million for the state.

"We have never gone through these filers to see who's here and who's not," Mr. Bergin said. "But it also will raise revenue that the state is badly in need of."

In addition to weeding out defunct businesses, the recertification process could help the department find businesses that owe sales taxes.

"There's an element of getting people to renew so that we can make sure they're paying their fair share of taxes in a timely manner," he said.

According to the department, all businesses start out as quarterly filers, but those that pay less than $3,000 in sales tax in a year are switched to annual filers, unless they choose specifically to remain quarterly.

Businesses are being notified on a rolling basis that began in November and continues through March 2012. The renewal process — and the application fee — were approved through state legislation in 2008.

Karen K. Delmonico, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce, said she's had only one local business complain to her about the charge. But, she said, local businesses and residents are and will be faced with many new state charges from the most recent budget and other legislation.

"We're going to find all kinds of fees tacked onto things that people had no idea were coming," she said. "It's so difficult for businesses to do business as it is."

The recertification effort is the first the department has undertaken.

"At this point, it is a one-time effort," Mr. Bergin said. "But based on the response, we could determine whether we want to continue to update the records."

The department would need legislative approval to levy another charge for businesses. He said about 80,000 letters have been sent so far and about 5,000 letters will be sent each week until the program's completion.

Mrs. Nier said she and her husband received their notice a few months ago.

"It baffled us when we got the notification," she said. "But we were told everybody had to do it."

Mary Lou Edmonds, owner of Ryan's Lookout, Henderson, said she received the notice in mid-August.

"It kind of seems unfair that we have to pay to collect sales taxes," she said. "But we knew what it was — just some way to make revenue."

Mrs. Edmonds said customers who also own businesses have complained to her about the process.

"But you've got to do it," she said. "There's nothing you can do about it."