_______________________________________________
ENGROSSED
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1327
_______________________________________________
Passed
Legislature - 1997 Regular Session
AS
AMENDED BY THE SENATE
State of Washington 55th
Legislature 1997 Regular Session
By
Read first time 03/10/97.
Reimbursing
sellers for sales tax collection costs.
AN
ACT Relating to reimbursing sellers for sales tax collection costs; amending
RCW 82.08.050; adding a new section to chapter 82.04 RCW; providing an
effective date; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
82.08.050 and 1993 sp.s. c 25 s 704 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)(a)
The tax hereby imposed shall be paid by the buyer to the seller, and each
seller shall collect from the buyer the full amount of the tax payable in
respect to each taxable sale in accordance with the schedule of collections
adopted by the department pursuant to the provisions of RCW 82.08.060. The tax
required by this chapter, to be collected by the seller, minus the amount
retained by the seller for administration under subsection (2) of this section,
shall be deemed to be held in trust by the seller until paid to the department,
and any seller who appropriates or converts the tax collected to his or her own
use or to any use other than the payment of the tax to the extent that the
money required to be collected is not available for payment on the due date as
prescribed in this chapter shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.
(b)
In case any seller fails to collect the tax herein imposed or having collected
the tax, fails to pay ((it)) the amount owed to the department in
the manner prescribed by this chapter, whether such failure is the result of
his or her own acts or the result of acts or conditions beyond his or her
control, he or she shall, nevertheless, be personally liable to the state for
the amount of the tax owed, unless the seller has taken from the buyer
in good faith a properly executed resale certificate under RCW 82.04.470.
(c)
The amount of tax, until paid by the buyer to the seller or to the department,
shall constitute a debt from the buyer to the seller and any seller who fails
or refuses to collect the tax as required with intent to violate the provisions
of this chapter or to gain some advantage or benefit, either direct or
indirect, and any buyer who refuses to pay any tax due under this chapter shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor. The tax required by this chapter to be collected
by the seller shall be stated separately from the selling price in any sales
invoice or other instrument of sale. On all retail sales through vending
machines, the tax need not be stated separately from the selling price or
collected separately from the buyer. For purposes of determining the tax due
from the buyer to the seller and from the seller to the department it shall be
conclusively presumed that the selling price quoted in any price list, sales
document, contract or other agreement between the parties does not include the
tax imposed by this chapter, but if the seller advertises the price as
including the tax or that the seller is paying the tax, the advertised price
shall not be considered the selling price.
(d)
Where a buyer has failed to pay to the seller the tax imposed by this chapter
and the seller has not paid the amount of the tax to the department, the
department may, in its discretion, proceed directly against the buyer for
collection of the tax, in which case a penalty of ten percent may be added to
the amount of the tax for failure of the buyer to pay the same to the seller,
regardless of when the tax may be collected by the department; and all of the
provisions of chapter 82.32 RCW, including those relative to interest and
penalties, shall apply in addition; and, for the sole purpose of applying the
various provisions of chapter 82.32 RCW, the twenty-fifth day of the month
following the tax period in which the purchase was made shall be considered as
the due date of the tax.
(2)
Each seller shall retain, as reimbursement for the costs associated with
collection and administration under this section, the following amounts each
reporting period:
(a)
1.0 percent of the tax collected under this section on the first forty thousand
dollars of taxable sales per month in the reporting period; and
(b)
0.5 percent of the tax collected under this section on sales greater than forty
thousand dollars but less than or equal to one hundred twenty thousand dollars
per month in the reporting period.
No
reimbursement is allowed under this section for taxable sales in excess of one
hundred twenty thousand dollars per month in the reporting period.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. A
new section is added to chapter 82.04 RCW to read as follows:
This
chapter does not apply to amounts retained by a seller for administration under
RCW 82.08.050(2).
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. This
act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or
safety, or support of the state government and its existing public
institutions, and takes effect July 1, 1997.
