Iowa Restaurant Industry and Delinquent Sales Tax
- Nov 30, 2011 | Will Frei
According to Iowa's The Gazette, the state lost $84.2 million to sales tax delinquencies in the 2011 fiscal year, a 17.1% increase from 2010.
Iowa does not typically report tax delinquency by industry segment. However, the Gazette indicates that a recent review of "liens filed this year in Linn County" reveals that restaurants make up 38% of those failing to remit sales tax in the county.
Restaurants have a notoriously high failure rate, and the article suggests that some restaurants use the sales tax they collect to cover expenses.
In Iowa, some restaurants discovered to be delinquent have attempted to remain viable by negotiating payment plans with government tax collecting agencies. The Gazette cites the example of Bishop's Buffet, which has worked to pay off it's debt for four years and currently owes $323,000, "the state's third-largest such debt."
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