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DOR > About Us > Resources > Tax Talk Blog > Stressed about your business tax bill? We can help. Stressed about your business tax bill? We can help.

Aug. 3, 2009

Okay, you’re a business owner and you just opened one of those dreaded envelopes with the words Indiana Department of Revenue printed across the top. It wasn’t a letter telling you to expect that unexpected refund, was it? Instead, it was a bill – for a whopping amount that just drove your blood pressure up several points.

“I can’t owe this!” You say? “How did they come up with this amount?” You fume.

Alright – first things first. Take a deep breath. You may not owe that amount. But something is likely owed, and we could only go with the best information we have available. What you’ve received is called a BIA bill – or a Best Information Available bill.

A BIA is mailed out when 1) a business taxpayer hasn’t filed taxes with us for a while, or ever, or 2) didn’t file for the past few filing periods. When that’s the case, we have to work with what we have on hand in terms of information to produce a bill and prompt the taxpayer to file and pay their fair share.

So how do we come to these amounts? Well, one method is to look at the business taxpayer’s past filings on record and then come up with an average. Then a BIA bill is mailed out for that amount. However, when someone hasn’t ever filed with us – registered a business with us, but has never filed to date – we look at the federal industry/business codes, and determine an average filing for a business in that type of industry. We then issue a BIA for that amount.

Again, remember, we’re working from the best information we have available, or can gather. To resolve the billing, a business taxpayer just needs to give us a call at 317.233.4015 -- to start. As you move along past the initial phone call, you’ll need to provide us with one or more of the following: documentation that shows you never opened the business, or when you closed the business; completed and updated filings for the tax periods we are missing from your record; or documentation showing that you’ve paid the taxes.

The main point to remember, however, is to contact us as soon as you get a BIA bill. Please – and I repeat, please – do not let it go to a warrant stage. If it does, then it goes to either your county sheriff to collect, or a professional collection agency. We would always prefer to avoid that step. Instead, we would prefer to hear from you directly and work with you to get the matter resolved before you encounter any more penalty or interest, or the sheriff or collection agency begins levying a business’s bank accounts. And a levy is like a train that has picked up passengers and is speeding down the tracks. The sheriff gets involved, the bank gets involved, and they each have their own timeframes to stop such action after you’ve taken care of the tax debt. But their timeframes may not align with your business’s cash-flow timeframe.

So, in short, avoid this more tangled situation all together, and call us if you receive a tax bill from the Department of Revenue. Our representatives may even be able to set you up on a payment plan, depending on how much you owe.

And, to help keep you on track in the future, you might also check out the state’s online business tax-filing tool: INtax. With this tool you can file and pay your sales and withholding taxes right on line, and have access to these records 24/7. And, this tools helps you to be more accurate, and avoid math calculation errors, etc. To register for INtax, just visit: www.intax.in.gov/

Okay, feeling better now? If so, good! We don’t want you to stress either. We do want you to be tax compliant, and to run a successful Hoosier business. So, give us a call today and let us help guide you through the process to put this taxing experience behind you.

Click here to listen to an audio podcast of a Department expert and learn more about BIA billings.

If you would like to submit a question or topic suggestions, please send them to feedback@dor.in.gov.