Business tax tools available online
July 9, 2007
In the last several articles (see Archives) Joetta and Jay, our intrepid business-tax duo, covered how to register your business with the Department and how to collect and remit sales and withholding tax. As promised, they are continuing the summer business-tax series with some helpful information about the Department of Revenue’s online business-tax tools. Read on to sample from our online information smorgasbord.
Now that your business is up and running you have questions that never crossed your mind before. Where do you go for answers? Well, the last thing you want to do is guess. And you might not want to rely on the guy next door even though he says he knows something about everything.
Your go-to place for answers on Indiana business taxes is the Department of Revenue’s Web site http://www.in.gov/dor/index.html We know you have to be at least a little bit Web-savvy because you found our Tax Talk blog. Here are some of the areas you’ll want to explore:
Home Page
Our home page gives you immediate access to the latest tax updates with details about how they might affect your business.
INTax
Another useful tool is the Indiana Tax Center (INTax)…it’s fast as a speeding rocket (and fast if you have a broadband connection), extremely user-friendly, and it’s absolutely FREE! There’s a great tutorial available in INTax, too, that is really helpful for users trying to navigate around scary tax terms and to help understand information requirements. This online business-tax-filing program puts you, the business owner, in control. Here are a few things you can do through INTax:
- File and pay sales, out of state sales, prepaid and metered pump sales, tire fee sales, and payroll withholding taxes.
- Schedule payments for future dates.
- Use multiple payment options: E-Check & EFT (credit cards coming soon).
- View account balances with the Department at any time.
- Pay past due sales and withholding taxes to reinstate your retail merchant certificate.
- Order coupons to pay your sales and withholding taxes.
- Register a new (or additional) business.
- Correspond with the Department online through a confidential secure inbox.
- View your Corporate (and Individual, just in case you want to check while you’re there) estimated tax account.
Businesses
In the Business section of our site you can:
- Register a new business
- Get forms and publications
- Maintain your account
- Get information about your billings
- Contact by email, phone, or snail mail
Find a District Office in various Indiana cities. These one-stop shops can answer most questions quickly and accurately. They are located in:
| City | Phone Number |
| Bloomington | (812) 339-1119 |
| Clarksville | (812) 282-7729 |
| Columbus | (812) 376-3049 |
| Evansville | (812) 479-9261 |
| Fort Wayne | (260) 436-5663 |
| Indianapolis | (317) 232-2240 |
| Kokomo | (765) 457-0525 |
| Lafayette | (762) 448-6626 |
| Merrillville | (219) 769-4267 |
| Muncie | (765) 289-6196 |
| South Bend | (574) 291-8270 |
| Terre Haute | (812) 235-6046 |
Electronic Services
It just keeps getting better and better! In the Electronic Services area you can
- Register, file, pay and manage taxes
- Get information about different tax types, tax rates, penalties and interest
- Find out when your business return needs to be filed
- Read about frequently asked questions (See…other people wanted to know that, too!)
- Discover more about that ever elusive use tax
Streamlined Sales Tax -- This is not a new tax; it is the same old sales tax that we have had since October 1963 (were you even born then?). Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) is a multi-state initiative to reduce the burden of collecting and remitting sales and use tax across state lines for both ecommerce and traditional brick and mortar businesses. Participating states, including our Hoosier State, continue to simplify tax laws, apply standard tax definitions, utilize common forms and procedures and certify tax administration software, all in an effort to ease tax collection for full-member and associate member states.
Reference Library
If you want to know how the Department handles a certain topic (such as sales tax regarding Lawn Care Applications or Food), then this is the area to check out. Here you’ll find:
- The Department’s annual report
- Commissioner’s directives
- Departmental notices
- Information about enterprise zones
- Filing statistics
- Fuel tax
- Information bulletins (both income tax and sales tax). If you want to know how the Department handles a certain topic (such as a specific credit or deduction, estimated tax, etc.), the bulletins are extremely helpful.
- Miscellaneous (a bunch of stuff all lumped together—doesn’t everyone have a drawer like this at home?).
- Legal Resources – (ideal for insomniacs). All kidding aside, the legal section is extremely helpful in learning about what the Department’s policy is on a legal issue.
Whew! Having all these options in one place can help make paying taxes a little less, well, taxing. Speaking of paying taxes, Joetta and Jay feel your pain – in the next installment they’ll give helpful advice on what you can do if you fall behind in making your tax payments to the Department. So, until next time, keep on moving!
- What does the state require to start a business?
- How can I check on my State income tax refund?
- How do I obtain a state tax number to collect sales tax?
- Who can I contact about Indiana income tax?
- Where do I go for tax forms?
- Where is my state tax refund?
- I filed my Indiana tax return. I owe, but am unable to pay at this time. What sh...
- I worked in Indiana six months. Then I worked six months in another state. How s...
- Know when I will receive my tax refund.
- File a part-year Indiana tax return.
- File my taxes as an Indiana resident while I am in the military, but my spouse is not an Indiana resident.
- Take the renter's deduction.
- Pay my tax bill in installments.
- Claim a gambling loss on my Indiana return.
- Have more time to file my taxes and I think I will owe the Department.
Welcome to Tax Talk, hosted by DiB (dye-bee), the Indiana Department of Revenue’s individual income tax guru. DiB, who says she’s been with the Department “since the earth cooled” (though it’s actually 30+ years), writes and develops Indiana’s individual income-tax instruction booklets and forms. DiB created Tax Talk to address Indiana individual income tax questions and issues during the filing season. If you would like to submit a question or topic suggestions, please send those to DiB at feedback@dor.in.gov
Individual Tax Links
Indiana Free Filing - I-File
Individual Tax Forms
Pay Indiana Taxes Online
Internal Revenue Service
Other State’s Tax Forms
