South Dakota Outlaws Tax Zappers
- Mar 23, 2016 | Gail Cole
Sales tax suppression devices enable businesses to falsify sales records and transaction reports, thereby remitting less sales tax than collected. If this seems like a type of device that should be illegal, it is—at least in numerous states. And effective March 10, 2016, the use of tax zappers is against the law in South Dakota.
Newly enacted House Bill 1051 prohibits the use of certain automated sales suppression devices and provides penalties for their use. Under the bill, it is a Class 5 felony to “knowingly own, sell, rent, lease, purchase, install, transfer, possess, use, access, design, manufacture, or program any automated sales suppression device or phantom-ware.”
Anyone convicted of a violation of this new law is, in addition to civil and/or criminal penalties, liable for all sales and use tax, contractor’s excise tax, and any other tax imposed by title 10.
South Dakota is in good company. Connecticut, Kentucky, and North Carolina are among the many states that have banned the use of tax zappers.
Instead of trying to avoid sales and use tax, businesses should automate sales and use tax compliance. Learn more.
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