Dear Friends,
Last week, the legislature finally passed a bill that brings Minnesota’s tax code in alignment with some provisions of the federal tax code in tax year 2013, with the other major provisions starting in 2014. This bill also repeals the sales tax on commercial/industrial repair, warehousing and telecommunications machinery and equipment starting April 1, 2014. The governor signed the bill into law on Friday.
While this is a good small step in the right direction, it truly does not go far enough for the hardworking taxpayers for Minnesota. I’m disappointed that those who already paid the new business-to-business taxes won’t be getting their hard-earned dollars back. This means small business owners who were forced to lay off employees in order to afford to pay these taxes enacted in 2013 won’t be able to hire those individuals back. If it was a mistake from the beginning, the Minnesota Department of Revenue should give back the money to the people who paid it. Unfortunately, Governor Dayton and his administration did not support this provision.
You can watch my floor speech on the tax bill here.
Other items that were not included, but would make Minnesota a more business friendly state include:
· Increased Standard Deduction for married joint filers which would have saved 640,000 married couples an average of $112 per return for tax year 2013.
· Retroactive repeal of business-to-business sales tax that went into effect in 2013 which would have returned $55.9 million to hardworking Minnesota taxpayers.
According to the Minnesota Department of Revenue, if you are affected by these tax changes and have already filed your return, one of three things will occur:
· The Minnesota Department of Revenue will fix your return and send a letter explaining what was fixed
· The Minnesota Department of Revenue will request more information from you so they can fix your return
· The Minnesota Department of Revenue will notify you they cannot fix your return. If this happens, you will need to file an amended return.
If you have not yet filed your 2013 taxes, you should wait until after April 3, 2014 to do so. The Department of Revenue will have their online systems updated by then to account for tax refund changes.
As always, please contact me if I can be of any help to you, your family, or your business.
Kurt