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Monday, February 18, 2013

Transaction Privilege Tax


I have mentioned a city sales tax on rentals in previous posts. A question from a reader caused me to do a bit of reading to make sure we are compliant. We are. Here is the summary:

Azizona has a "Transaction Privilege Tax", sometimes called a "sales tax". But the implementation varies depending on where you are in Arizona. For some parts of Arizona, it is set and collected by the state, and in others it is set and collected by the city you are in. Cities that implement the tax on their own are called "Non-Program Cities". It happens that most of the cities (maybe all) in the Greater Pheonix Area are Non-Program Cities: Phoenix, Avondale, Glendale, Chandler, Mesa, Scottsdale, etc.
Typically they each have a sales tax that applies to rental properties, and the property manager or landlord must collect and submit the tax to the appropriate tax authority. For example, our properties are in Avondale (2.5%) and Phoenix (2%).

It is highly recommended that rental property owners notify the Maricopa County Assessor that the property is being rented, and submit the appropriate taxes. Penalties for not doing so can add up quickly. The property will be flagged as a "class 4" on the Maricopa County Assessor site.

In our case, we are fortunate in that the property manager (National Rental Pros) collects and submits the tax on our behalf to Avondale and Phoenix. If not, we would have to do monthly submissions ourselves. A reader let me know that after doing monthly submissions for a year, you may apply to do annual submissions although that may depend on the particular city.

Links for more information. One is for Avondale (an example), but search on the equivalent for the city you are in.
http://mcassessor.maricopa.gov/assessor//PDF/NoticeToOwners2.pdf
http://mcassessor.maricopa.gov/assessor//residential_property_form.aspx
http://www.ci.avondale.az.us/documents/22/54/162/Real%20Property%20Rental%20brochure-JAN%2010.PDF

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