The Tax Administration line item includes 10 program areas:
- Tax Administration;
- Auditing Division;
- Multi-State Tax Compact;
- Technology Management (DTS);
- Processing Division;
- Seasonal Employees;
- Tax Payer Services;
- Property Tax;
- Motor Vehicles; and
- Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division.
Funding History
Appropriation Overview
During the 2015 General Session, the Legislature appropriated for Fiscal Year 2016, $83,540,700 from all sources for Tax Administration. This is a 3.2 percent increase from Fiscal Year 2015 revised estimated amounts from all sources. The total includes $48,253,500 from the General/Education Funds, an increase of 3 percent from revised Fiscal Year 2015 estimates.
Appropriation Adjustments
In addition to statewide compensation and internal service fund cost increases, the following appropriation adjustments were made during the 2015 General Session:
DescriptionOngoingOne-Time
Attorney General Dedicated Credit Adjustments$4,800$0
Electronic Payment Fees$600,000$300,000
Income Tax Revisions$83,000$46,000
Tax Turnover Savings ($46,300)$0
Utah Educational Savings Plan Amendments$0$10,200
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$4,800$0General Fund
This item designates additional funding appropriated to an agency to pay higher costs for Attorney General services, due to statewide and AG-specific compensation increases.
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$600,000$300,000GFR - Electronic Payment Fee Restricted Account
Additional appropriations from this restricted account would be used to cover increased costs from bank and credit card fees, from tax payers' increased use of electronic payment methods.
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$83,000$0Education Fund
$0$46,000Education Fund, One-time
By delaying refunds, enactment of this legislation could increase interest income to the Education Fund by $41,000 annually. The bill also imposes higher fees on non-compliant businesses with withholding filing requirements. For every 1% of continued non-compliance, the bill increases the fee revenue to the Education Fund by about $100,200 up to 84% in compliance (i.e. 50% continued non-compliance = $5,010,000 in increased Education Fund revenue). This note assumes 84% compliance, at which enough businesses are in compliance that the revenue impact on the Education Fund is neutral. At 100% compliance, revenue to the Education Fund would decrease by $2,438,000 per year.
Enactment of this legislation could cost the Tax Commission $58,000 ongoing for 4 half-time FTE to review and verify employer and employee information and $25,000 for letters to employers and employees. The bill may also cost the Tax Commission $46,000 one-time for bulletins and inserts regarding the new requirements.
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
($46,300)$0General Fund
The Tax Commission currently has an applied turnover savings rate of 4%. This amounts to $1,037,034 (4% of the percentage of personnel services covered by GF/EF). An amount could be reduced from General Fund appropriations, with a buffer remaining for hiring personnel.
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$0$10,200Dedicated Credits Revenue
Enactment of this legislation could generate $10,200 in dedicated credits one-time in FY 2016 for the Tax Commission and $20,800 in dedicated credits one-time in FY 2016 for the Department of Administrative Services for systems changes. The bill could also reduce revenue to the Education Fund by $6,400 in FY 2016 and $7,100 in FY 2017.
Enactment of this legislation could cost the Tax Commission $10,200 one-time and the Department of Administrative Services $20,800 one-time for programming costs, paid for by the Utah Educational Savings Plan.
The following are performance measures tracked within this organization.
- Percent of Target Reached in Implementing New Computer System
- Percent of Timely Collection Distributions to Local Entities
- Number and Percent of Appeals Cases Closed
- Audit Satisfaction Ratings
- Number of New Accounts From Discovery Activities
- Income Tax Auditing Performance
- Percent of Tax Refund Requests Processed Within 15 Working Days
- Percent of Business Tax Returns Filed Electronically
- Timeliness of Recording and Depositing of Income Tax Returns
- Cost of Collection per Delinquent Dollar Collected
- Number of Delinquent Cases Cleared to Zero
- Number of Days to Collection for Delinquent Accounts
- Percent of Centrally Assessed Company Valuations Completed On Time
- Percent of Counties Not Recieved Correction Action Orders
- Number of Personal Property Audits and Audits per Auditor
COBI contains unaudited data as presented to the Legislature by state agencies at the time of publication. For audited financial data see the State of Utah's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports.