City of Los Angeles - Voluntary Disclosure Program for Business License Taxes

Effective until October 4, 2012, the City of Los Angeles Office of Finance is administering a voluntary disclosure program to encourage unregistered businesses that are engaged in business within the City of Los Angeles to register and pay taxes.  Under the program, qualified taxpayers who come forward will have penalties, but not interest, waived.  In addition, so long as the taxpayer’s failure to pay was due to reasonable cause and was not a result of intentional disregard of the law or due to fraud or an intent to evade taxes, a shorter statute of limitations for assessing tax delinquencies will apply to those who come forward.

To qualify for the Voluntary Disclosure Program, a business must:  (1) be engaged in business in the City of Los Angeles as defined by LAMC Sec. 21.00(i); (2) not have previously filed an application for a Business Tax Registration Certificate, been registered with the Office of Finance, or filed a Business Tax renewal form; (3) not been previously contacted by the Office of Finance or its contractors regarding business license tax liabilities; (4) voluntarily file both an application for a voluntary disclosure agreement and a full and accurate statement of activities within the City of Los Angeles for the relevant tax periods; (5) cooperate with an investigation of the taxes at issue in the Voluntary Disclosure Agreement, including providing all books and records to the Office of Finance; and, (6) the failure to register and pay the Business Tax was not as a result of fraud or intent to evade.

Applicants who are concerned about whether they would qualify can obtain a written opinion as to whether or not the Office of Finance would be inclined to approve a voluntary disclosure request based on circumstances presented anonymously.

For additional information, please contact the City of Los Angeles or a Winston & Strawn state and local tax attorney.

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