Beginning with Arizona Department of Revenue Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT) reports filed in July 2016 (for the 6/1-6/30/16 reporting period), the ADOR instituted new requirements for filing.  For businesses that only have one physical location, the opportunity to paper file still exists. For businesses that have more than one physical location, it is now mandatory to file electronically on www.aztaxes.gov. There is currently no date set for requiring single locations to file electronically; however, the ADOR is strongly suggesting that all taxpayers register to file electronically.

   The benefit for e-filing is that all updates to tax rates, codes, and any other                      information are always included as the site is maintained by the ADOR. Filing is also    recorded as soon as the form is submitted, so there is no more waiting for the form      to arrive at the ADOR and be scanned in order for the filing to be recognized.                 Although aztaxes.gov does offer the option to pay electronically as well, this is not       mandatory. Taxpayers can still file electronically and pay by check.

 

One change to note is the printing of the TPT form that has been electronically filed.  In the past, once the submission was complete, the taxpayer could immediately print a copy of the form.  With the current change, this immediate printing no longer exists.  There is now a menu option on the left side of the screen for “E-Filed TPT Returns” and this is where the forms can be found.  There is a delay in the availability for several hours so while the forms are still available for printing; it isn’t immediately after filing.

For businesses that are still able paper file, the old TPT-1 has been replaced and there are now 2 versions: the TPT-EZ and the TPT-2.

The TPT-EZ is a simplified form for business with only one physical location.  It has sections for state/county, and city transaction details as well as Schedule A sections for itemizing deductions included on a single 2-page form.  Because this form does not allow for any additional schedules or pages, reporting jurisdictions and deductions are limited to the number of spaces on the form.  This is currently 6 state/county and city transaction details and 5 deductions.  If your filing has more jurisdictions and/or deductions than these, you must file the TPT-2.

The TPT-2 form separates the state/county transactions, city transactions, and Schedule A deductions pages into separate pages. This form is to be used for any business whose information exceeds that which can be contained on the TPT-EZ form.  Although the form is several pages long, taxpayers only need to send in the pages that contain information.  This means that the pages for city transaction detail or Schedule A deductions do not need to be sent in if there is no information on them.  At the very minimum, pages 1 and 2 must be sent to ADOR.

Both forms have two new information boxes that are worth noting.  The first box, just above the address box on page 1, is a box for reporting no gross receipts.  If a taxpayer has a license,  TPT returns are required to be filed without regard to whether or not there are any gross sales in the period.  Part of the simplification with these forms is the addition of the checkbox.  Now, if a taxpayer has no gross sales, the only information that needs to be completed is to check the box “Check here and sign below if you have no gross receipts to report” and to sign the form.  The only page that must be sent in to the ADOR is the signature page.

The second box, at the bottom of page 1, just above the paid preparer’s signature box, is an authorization to allow ADOR to discuss the return with the paid preparer who signed the form.  Previously, this authorization was only granted with the filing of the AZ-285 form granting Power of Attorney.  It must be noted that this authorization is only for that return so the box needs to be checked for every month that a taxpayer wants to grant this authorization.

It is important to note that, while the goal of ADOR and TPT Simplification is to include centralized filing with ADOR rather than filing individual forms with cities, this has not fully taken place.  Taxpayers who have transactions in any of the following jurisdictions (commonly called “non-program cities“) need to continue to file the city forms with these jurisdictions separately:

 

Apache Junction               Glendale              Prescott
Avondale                            Mesa                    Scottsdale
Chandler                             Nogales               Tempe
Douglas                              Peoria                  Tucson
Flagstaff                             Phoenix

 

To assist taxpayers with properly completing these new forms, the ADOR has many tutorials on their You Tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ArizonaDepartmentofRevenueGov

 

Taxpayers can also subscribe to the TPT Newsletter to receive updates either via email or text messaging.  The link to subscribe can be found at: https://www.azdor.gov/TransactionPrivilegeTax(TPT)/Subscribe.aspx

 

Sources:

https://www.azdor.gov/Home.aspx

https://www.aztaxes.gov/Home

 

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