Contacting Your State Tax Department; Quick Links for State Tax Forms, News and Information

Do you know what the state agency or division which administers your state's tax laws is called, or how to contact that agency or division?  There are many good reasons to know which state agency, department, or division to contact for guidance, forms, news and other information.  Perhaps you’re an individual or a business who filed an extension for your state personal or business tax return.  With the extended tax season in full swing right now, you may find that you need to quickly link to the appropriate state site for forms, publications or to pay your taxes on-line. (For calendar year taxpayers, most extended state returns are due this month or in October.)  Or perhaps you're filing in a new state for the first time.  You need resources and information, but you may not know which state agency, department or division can provide the information you need or what that state's agency is called.  For instance, in many states, you'll find taxes administered by the Department of Revenue or Department of Taxation, but other states’ agencies may go by a less obvious name, such as The Franchise Tax Board (California), The Office of the Comptroller (Texas) or The Office of the Chief Financial Officer (District of Columbia).  Perhaps you’re planning on expanding business operations in a new state.  You’ll want to understand what state business taxes you may be subject to and what your business’s tax filing obligations may be.  Or perhaps you’ve recently realized that you should have filed tax returns in prior years in states in which you determine you had "nexus".  If that's the case, you may want to find out more about those very popular state tax amnesty programs (see my AllBusiness.com blog post of August 21, 2010, “State Tax Amnesty: An Opportunity for Taxpayers to Pay Delinquent State Taxes, What Taxpayers Need to Know” for more on state tax amnesty programs).  Or you may want to find out whether the state offers Voluntary Disclosure, another state program which offers benefits similar to those found in tax amnesty programs. (look for a future post on this topic) 

Yes, there are many reasons to know how to link to the appropriate state tax agency site.  To help you find your way to the appropriate state site, I’ve compiled the following list of the state “tax agency” for all fifty states plus the District of Columbia.  Notice that each state’s agency is hyperlinked to the state site.  Therefore, if you’re viewing this post on-line, you can quickly click on the state agency name to go directly to that site.  However, I have also included the URL for each site in the event you wish to keep a hard-copy of this list readily available. (My recommendation is to bookmark this page for future reference) Finally, please note that although I’ve tested each and every link, keep in mind that URL’s do change from time to time. 

ALABAMA,  Department of Revenue, http://www.revenue.alabama.gov/

ALASKA,  Department of Revenue,  http://www.revenue.state.ak.us/   (from the  home page, click on “Tax” to go to the Tax Division of the DOR or click this link)

ARIZONA,  Department of Revenue,  http://www.azdor.gov/

ARKANSAS,  Department of Finance and Administration,  http://www.dfa.arkansas.gov/Pages/default.aspx

CALIFORNIA,   Franchise Tax Board (for individual income and business income/franchise and other business taxes, but not sales & use tax or other fees and taxes administered by the Board of Equalization – see next entry),  http://www.ftb.ca.gov/   

CALIFORNIA, State Board of Equalization (for sales & use tax, property tax and other taxes and fees not administered by the Franchise Tax Board), http://www.boe.ca.gov/

CALIFORNIA, see also the  California Tax Information Center, http://www.taxes.ca.gov/  a central website with links to the various state tax areas

COLORADO,   Department of Revenue,   http://www.colorado.gov/revenue,  (from  the home page, click on “Taxes” to go to the Division of Taxation of the DOR or click this link)

CONNECTICUT,   Department of Revenue Services,  http://www.ct.gov/drs.   

DELAWARE,  Department of Finance: Division of Revenue,  http://www.revenue.delaware.gov/

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (WASHINGTON, D.C.),  Office of the Chief Financial Officer,  http://www.cfo.dc.gov/cfo/site/default.asp  (from the home page, click on "BUSINESS" on top bar and scroll down to "Tax Services", or from the home page chose "Tax Service Center" under "Services" to get to the "Office of Tax and Revenue" ) 

FLORIDA,  Department of Revenue, http://www.dor.myflorida.com/dor/  

GEORGIA,  Department of Revenue,  https://www.etax.dor.ga.gov/

HAWAII,  Department of Taxation,  http://www.hawaii.gov/tax/

IDAHO,  State Tax Commission, http://www.tax.idaho.gov/  

ILLINOIS,  Department of Revenue,  http://www.iltax.com/index.htm

INDIANA,  Department of Revenue,  http://www.in.gov/dor/

IOWA, Department of Revenue,  http://www.iowa.gov/tax/

KANSAS, Department of Revenue,  http://www.ksrevenue.org/index.htm

KENTUCKY, Department of Revenue,  http://www.revenue.ky.gov/

LOUISIANA, Department of Revenue,  http://www.revenue.louisiana.gov/

MAINE, Revenue Services,  http://www.state.me.us/revenue/homepage.html

MARYLAND, Comptroller,  http://www.marylandtaxes.com/default.asp

MASSACHUSETTS, Department of Revenue,  http://www.dor.state.ma.us/

MICHIGAN, Department of Treasury,  http://www.michigan.gov/treasury   

MINNESOTA, Department of Revenue,  http://taxes.state.mn.us/

MISSISSIPPI, State Tax Commission,  http://www.dor.ms.gov/

MISSOURI, Department of Revenue,  http://www.dor.mo.gov/

MONTANA, Department of Revenue,  http://www.revenue.mt.gov/

NEBRASKA, Department of Revenue,  http://www.revenue.state.ne.us/

NEVADA, Department of Taxation,  http://www.tax.state.nv.us/

NEW HAMPSIRE, Department of Revenue Administration,  http://www.revenue.nh.gov/

NEW JERSEY, Division of Taxation,  http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/index.shtml

NEW MEXICO, Taxation and Revenue Department,  http://www.tax.newmexico.gov/

NEW YORK STATE, Department of Taxation and Finance,   http://www.tax.state.ny.us/

NORTH CAROLINA, Department of Revenue,  http://www.dor.state.nc.us/

NORTH DAKOTA, Office of State Tax Commissioner,  http://www.nd.gov/tax/

OHIO, Department of Taxation,  http://www.tax.ohio.gov/

OKLAHOMA, Tax Commission,  http://www.oktax.state.ok.us/

OREGON, Department of Revenue,   http://www.oregon.gov/DOR/

PENNSYLVANIA, Department of Revenue,   http://www.revenue.state.pa.us/

RHODE ISLAND, Department of Revenue/Division of Taxation,  http://www.tax.state.ri.us/

SOUTH CAROLINA, Department of Revenue, http://www.sctax.org/default.htm  

SOUTH DAKOTA, Department of Revenue and Regulation,   http://www.state.sd.us/drr2/aboutus.htm

TENNESSEE, Department of Revenue,  http://www.state.tn.us/revenue/

TEXAS, Comptroller of Public Accounts,  http://www.window.state.tx.us/

UTAH, State Tax Commission,  http://www.tax.utah.gov/

VERMONT, Department of Taxes,   http://www.state.vt.us/tax/index.shtml

VIRGINIA, Department of Taxation,   http://www.tax.virginia.gov/

WASHINGTON (STATE), Department of Revenue,  http://www.dor.wa.gov/

WEST VIRGINIA, State Tax Department of  the Department of Revenue,  http://www.wva.state.wv.us/wvtax/default.aspx

WISCONSIN, Department of Revenue,  http://www.dor.state.wi.us/

WYOMING, Department of Revenue, http://www.revenue.state.wy.us/

Additional Notes: The above links will direct you to the state department which administers most categories of state taxes (e.g., individual and business income tax, sales & use tax, payroll withholding tax, etc.).  However, certain taxes, such as real and personal property taxes may OR may not be administered by the state department listed above.  Additionally, although payroll withholding is generally administered by the state tax department listed above, virtually every state's unemployment insurance (UI) is handled by a separate department within the state (for example, in Massachusetts, income tax withholding is adminstered by the Department of Revenue, while the state's UI is adminstered by the Office of Labor and Workforce Development).  Finally, note that several cities, such as New York City, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, several cities in Ohio, etc., also impose individual and/or business taxes.  These local jurisdictions have their own websites.   

 

The information contained in this post of the AllBusiness.com-Business Tax Advisor blog is not intended to be, and should not be construed as legal, accounting or tax advice to the reader. The reader is cautioned that this material may not be applicable to, or suitable for, the reader’s specific circumstances or needs, and may require consideration of non-tax and other tax factors if any action is to be contemplated. Readers interested in the subject this post should contact their personal tax advisor to discuss the potential application of the subject matter to their particular facts and circumstances.

IRS Circular 230 Notice. The information contained in this post is not intended to be used, and cannot be used, by any person for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code.

 

Sylvia F. Dion, MPA, CPA is a tax consultant based near Boston, Massachusetts, who specializes in providing state & local tax consulting services.  She is also the author of The State and Local Tax "Buzz" blog, a tax blog focused on state and local tax developments.  She can be reached at sylviadion@verizon.net.