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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
Report No. 2006-35
June 2006
The following report contains information on the municipal tax on telecommunications companies throughout Missouri.
State law requires the municipalities that charge a tax on a telecommunications company to report to the Department of Revenue (DOR) and the State Auditor's Office (SAO) on or before February 1, 2006, the total amount of tax revenue collected for the previous fiscal year of taxable gross receipts from telecommunications companies. Telecommunication companies are also required to provide the DOR and the SAO the amount of municipal business license tax paid to each Missouri municipality and an itemized list establishing their gross receipts in each municipality identified by the DOR as imposing a business license tax on a telecommunications company for the last 4 quarters.
The State Auditor's Office received information from 337 municipalities and 214 telecommunications companies as required by state law. Additional follow-up was required for many reports received as municipalities were not required to identify from which company telecommunication taxes were received.
� 274 municipalities reported fiscal year 2005 telecommunication tax revenue totaling $36,919,972 which materially agreed with the taxes paid in calendar year 2005 as reported by telecommunications companies.
� 63 municipalities reporting fiscal year 2005 telecommunication tax revenue totaling $20,418,478 could not be materially reconciled to $17,292,542 reported taxes paid in calendar year 2005 by telecommunications companies. Lack of detail required to be reported by municipalities and many municipalities and telecommunications companies not replying to the request for information contributed to these differences.
� 199 municipalities did not report fiscal year 2005 revenue. Telecommunications companies reported paying $232,150 to these municipalities.
� One municipality, Augusta, in St. Charles County reported $0 revenues received while the telecommunications company reported $3,720 paid in 2005. It was determined that since July 2003 the telecommunications company had been sending tax payments totaling approximately $11,000 to Augusta, Arkansas.
