Just a little background on "Pre-Paid Estimated Sales Tax." Only four states in America require this of businesses. The Georgia Department of Revenue once explained it to me as "a deposit that you get back every month." If this were true, then why is the money never in my account again after I pay it? If it was refunded every month, then why did Sonny Perdue, twice, veto a bill to give businesses back their money? Currently, the State has an almost $300 million interest free loan from Small Business. In fact, that money earns the state an estimated 9 million per year in interest.
Now, back to my case; in Jan of 2010, I merged my business and stopped collecting Sales Tax, thank God! In the first week of April, the DOR received my "Sales Tax Claim For Refund" form to process my refund. On Aug 13th, 4 months later, I called to find out the status of my refund. After 18 days of calling almost every day and speaking with Supervisors and Customer Service Specialist, I was told, I was not due a refund! Just a note on the Customer Service folks, they did seem very nice. However, they never call back or send emails like they say they will. Back to the "We do not owe you....." I wonder if this is the standard answer they are told to give. Just think, if 10% of the people believe them or can not prove them wrong, the State gets to keep their money. Over the course of the last 6 years, I have had to send more money to the DOR and there have been times they owed me money, but you never know this because the DOR has a policy of not sending notices of credits. (Summer Clifton, DOR) In 2005, I was due a refund, I never knew about it until this week, so it became "Statue Barred." Which means after not notifying you of your credit, they keep the full amount.
After 18 short days, 8 hours of my life, $375.00 to my accountant and not believing the "We do not owe you anything" answer, I finally got someone to go over my account and find that they had made a mistake. What a shock, the Department in charge of collecting Sales Tax, one of the biggest sources of funding for the State, made a mistake! Once I was able to get a decision maker on the phone, it only took 15 minutes to show them their mistake.
It is no wonder Georgia ranks 28th in States that make life easy for Businesses. Under Bart Graham, the DOR has done nothing to foster or help small businesses. My story is just one; every business owner I know has had similar stories. I will not even start on the time the DOR said I owed over $19,000, yet another mistake that took many hours of my time to correct!
Maybe when we get rid of the current Governor, that does not like small business, the new Governor will get rid of Bart Graham and get someone that will help small business!
David A. Martinez
Cartersville