Ohio House Passes Legislation Streamlining Tax Administration and Compliance in Ohio

State Representative Gary Scherer (R-Circleville) has announced that the Ohio House of Representatives today passed House Bill 492, legislation that streamlines and simplifies the administration of taxes in the state of Ohio.

A component of the Mid-Biennium Review (MBR) package of bills, House Bill 492 addresses a variety of tax and compliance issues, including:

• Shifting the duty of selling cigarette tax stamps and receiving cigarette tax returns from the Treasurer of State to the Tax Commissioner
• Renaming the tax levied on the basis of gross receipts from the first sale of motor fuel in the state from the “motor fuel receipts tax” to the “petroleum activity tax” (PAT)
• Authorizing vendors and others required to hold a sales or use tax license whose business and home address is the same to apply to the Tax Commissioner to keep the address confidential
• Ensuring that a petroleum activity tax (PAT) taxpayer may claim on its first PAT filing on November 10, 2014 the Job Retention/Job Creation tax credits

“I was happy to be a sponsor of this bill. It has been my goal since taking office to simplify Ohio’s laws and remove burdensome regulations,” said Rep. Scherer. “I believe that House Bill 492 does just that.”

House Bill 492 has received the support of the Ohio Department of Taxation Commissioner Joe Testa, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Todd Snitchler, and Ohio Development Services Agency Chief of Business Services Daryl Hennessy.

House Bill 492 passed with unanimous support and now awaits further consideration in the Ohio Senate.