Letters Mailed to Businesses Located in Select Zip Code Areas
Sacramento – Retailers throughout the state are receiving letters from the California State Board of Equalization (BOE) notifying them about upcoming visits from Statewide Compliance and Outreach Program (SCOP) teams. The visits are intended to educate retailers about properly reporting sales and use tax, increasing compliance with tax laws and maintaining outreach to encourage voluntary compliance.
The BOE is mailing letters to 8,507 business owners in the following zip codes: San Bruno (94066), Pasadena (91107), Big Bear Lake (92315), Big Bear City (92314), Running Springs (92382), Fawnskin (92333), Sugarloaf (92386), Green Valley Lake (92341), Lake Arrowhead (92352), Blue Jay (92317), Cedar Glen (92321), Skyforest (92385), Crestline (92325), Twin Peaks (92391), Rimforest (92378), Cedarpines Park (92322), Highland (92346), Goleta (93110, 93111), Montecito (93108), Oxnard (93030, 93031, 93032), and San Diego (92109).
Nine different SCOP teams located statewide (Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, Van Nuys, Norwalk, Irvine, Riverside, Santa Clarita, and San Diego) conduct door-to-door, in-person visits in the zip code areas they cover. Businesses found to be operating without a seller’s permit are provided instructions on how to register with the BOE, as well as information about other necessary licenses.
Since 2008, SCOP has visited 441,643 businesses statewide to verify retailers are registered, and to ensure noncompliant businesses do not have an unfair advantage over registered businesses that are reporting their sales and use taxes and/or fees to BOE.
The BOE has found that more than 98 percent of the California businesses are operating with the correct permits. However, noncompliance contributes to more than $2 billion in uncollected sales and use taxes that make up part of the state’s “tax gap” – the difference between the amount of taxes owed and the amount paid, negatively impacting all state taxpayers.
This may include individuals and businesses engaging in illegal activities in our state’s underground economy. California’s underground economy deprives the state of an estimated $8.5 billion in state sales, use, and income taxes annually through a spectrum of illegal activities, including the sales of counterfeit goods like “knock off” designer items, offering and paying for services under the table, the exploitation of victims of human trafficking and smuggling goods into California without paying the required taxes.
If business owners have any questions about these upcoming visits, they may contact their local BOE SCOP Team or visit the BOE’s SCOP Web page athttp://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/SCOP_Overview.htm.
