A Massachusetts newspaper reported this week that two men arrested for possession of five pounds of marijuana had also run afoul of state tax law. The story went on to quote from the law … which was all well and good except the law was   …Continue Reading Marijuana tax stamps still on sale even though law up in smoke

The Commonwealth has collected more than $800 million in revenue from the sale of motor vehicles ($422 million) and the gasoline excise tax ($391.6 million) in the first eight months of FY12. But the two sources of revenue have been trending in opposite directions: sales   …Continue Reading MV sales tax collection up; gasoline excise collection down

The Department of Revenue has produced, in-house, a new mobile smartphone app that allows taxpayers to check the status of their refund, file for an extension and make an estimated payment, take corrective action should a refund be held up, and keep up with DOR   …Continue Reading DOR mobile app now available from Apple and Google

The Washington Post reported this week that the U.S. Senate has approved language that would classify tobacco shops and convenience stores that offer roll-your-own (RYO) cigarette machines as manufacturers. Slapping the label of manufacturer on these RYO stores would subject them to a series of federal and   …Continue Reading U.S. Senate moves to snuff out RYO cigarette machines

The Department of Revenue sheds no tears for TaxMasters, which has just filed for bankruptcy protection. Actually, it is taxpayers who are now protected from the predatory tactics and empty promises of TaxMasters. TaxMasters website is still up, but a call this morning to their office   …Continue Reading TaxMasters bankruptcy filing is good news for taxpayers

With little more than four weeks left until the April 17 tax filing deadline, about half of the expected 3.4 million tax tax returns have been filed. Lest you think that unusual, that is 105,996 or 7 percent higher than a year ago. More than 1.3 million   …Continue Reading Filing season closes in four weeks; half of taxpayers yet to file

Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray and Secretary for Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez today announced the 28 recipients of the $4 million Community Innovation Challenge (CIC) grant program. The CIC is designed to promote innovative regionalization and other cost saving initiatives that will help local governments increase   …Continue Reading Patrick-Murray Administration announces $4M in Community Innovation Grants to 138 MA communities

The 11-member Tax Expenditure Commission has posted a wide array of materials on DOR’s website in an effort to make its work as transparent and accessible as possible. What are tax expenditures? The introduction to the FY13 Tax Expenditure Budget  puts it this way: "In its simplest   …Continue Reading Tax Expenditure Budget Commission data on line

DOR yesterday released the February revenue report showing a monthly collection of $1.011 billion that was a $79 million increase over February 2011 and $38 million over the monthly benchmark. Year-to-date tax collections total $12.895 billion, up $315 million or 2.5 percent over a year   …Continue Reading February, a small month, tops $1B; sales tax strong

As of Friday, March 2, the Commonwealth has refunded $509.6 million to 1.07 million taxpayers. Refunds are up $38 million from the same period a year ago, with the average refund $477, a dollar higher than a year ago. With little more than six weeks   …Continue Reading Refunds exceed $500M; nearly 40 percent of returns filed