The South Dakota State Legislature and Governor Dennis Daugaard approved Senate Bill 36 in the last session. The new law changes the filing and payment dates for several state taxes starting in July. South Dakota Public Broadcasting's Jeremy Ludemann reports.
Senate Bill 36 changes deadlines for the state sales, use, and motor fuel taxes -- along with the contractor's excise tax and the 9-1-1 surcharge and wireless taxes.
The new law moves the filing date for these taxes to the 20th day of every month.
Andy Gerlach is the Secretary of the South Dakota Department of Revenue. He says electronic filers have a few extra days to pay their bill:
"So if you're a paper filer you still remit and pay on the 20th. If you are an electronic filer -- as a result of Senate Bill 36 -- now you actually remit on the 20th but you have until the 25th to pay your bill. It's really like a credit card payment -- if you pay your credit card online -- you may go out there and look at your bill and you may say 'I want to set up my payment on the 20th' but then a lot of times you get to pick the date and our EPATH system is like that - where it takes the money out of your account. And, in this case for our electronic filers that would be the 25th of the month."
Gerlach says the new law streamlines the process for businesses and other entities with a tax license:
"[If] you think about a small business out there that may have multiple licenses with us and remitting different types of taxes; to keep in mind the dates you're supposed to remit -- and if there are several -- you have to keep reminding yourself. So, from a consistency standpoint, we thought that if we would move the filing date in conjunction with the paper date of the 20th - and then have all of our tax licenses file on the 20th - it would be easier for not only our businesses, but tax preparers as well."
Gerlach says the collected taxes help fund state government - he says the revenue from the sales tax, use tax, and contractor's excise tax make up about 70 percent of the money in the State's general fund.