State to Verify San Clemente Businesses Collect Sales Tax

Do you own a business in San Clemente? The state agency that oversees sales tax collection may be coming for a visit soon.

According to a recent press release from the Board of Equalization, the board is mailing letters to 10,896 business owners in 28 ZIP codes, including the three in San Clemente.

The employees conducting the visits come from the board’s compliance and outreach program teams, according to the release. A timeframe is not indicated, only that the visits are "upcoming."

The “visits are intended to educate retailers about properly reporting sales and use tax, increase compliance with tax laws, and maintain outreach efforts to assure taxpayers the state’s tax system is fair and equal for all Californians,” the press release states.

The visits are made in person and door-to-door.

“Businesses found to be operating without a seller’s permit are provided instructions on how to register with the BOE, as well as information about other necessary licenses. Home-based businesses are not visited,” according to the Board of Equalization.

Past history has shown that 98 percent of businesses visited by the compliance team are operating legally, the press release states.

Since 2008, the team has visited more than 369,000 businesses statewide to verify retailers are registered, and to ensure noncompliant businesses do not have an unfair advantage over registered businesses that are reporting their sales and use taxes and/or fees to BOE, according to the board.

If business owners have any questions about these upcoming visits, they may contact their local BOE SCOP Team or visit theBOE’s State Compliance and Outreach Program web page.