State publishes businesses with revoked sales-tax licenses

The list is published on the department’s Web site, www.dor.mo.gov, and allows visitors to search businesses by city, county, business name or license number. Each result includes the business name, owner’s name, address of all revoked locations and revocation date. DOR spokeswoman Maura Browning said the revocation database would be updated weekly.

An online search conducted this morning turned up 80 Greene County businesses whose sales tax licenses had been revoked by the state. Sixty-seven of the businesses were in Springfield. Many of the businesses are no longer in operation, but some – such as Ziggie’s Café – are still open.

Statewide, more than 1,000 businesses have had their sales tax licenses revoked for failing to remit between $30 million and $50 million in revenue owed to DOR, Browning said.

DOR may revoke a sales tax license if a business either fails to remit sales tax collected from customers or income tax withheld from employees. Senate Bill 30, which was recently signed into law by Gov. Matt Blunt, gave the department the authority to publish the names of businesses that have lost their licenses.

“The embarrassment associated with being listed should drive greater compliance,” DOR Director Trish Vincent said in a news release. “Second, enforcement will be easier, since local law enforcement as well as regular citizens can examine the list and report businesses that have illegally reopened.”

Browning said businesses that collect sales tax without a valid license are operating outside the law. In the past, she said, DOR has worked with local utility companies and municipal governments to shut down businesses operating illegally.

DOR is asking citizens to report businesses still operating with a revoked sales tax license by sending an e-mail to revocations@dor.mo.gov. Identities of those who report violations remain confidential, according to the Web site.

See SBJ’s Sept. 10 issue for more on local businesses whose sales tax licenses have been revoked.