Ohio House OKs tax-overpayment legislation

June 4, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS

The Ohio House signed off on legislation Tuesday that would require state tax officials to refund overpayments to businesses.

Senate Bill 263 passed on a vote of 93-0. Pending concurrence by the Ohio Senate on changes made by the House, the legislation will head to Gov. John Kasich for his expected signature.

The state for years refrained from contacting businesses about tax overpayments and did not issue refunds in such cases unless they were requested.

After several years, the accumulated overpayments were transferred to the state’s general revenue fund to pay for other expenses.

The situation came to light a couple of years ago, when Kasich and the state’s tax director announced that about 3,500 businesses would receive $13 million-plus in refunds due to overpayments.

Late last year, the state inspector general’s office identified more overpayments as part of a review prompted by a separate investigation of employee theft.

The tax department has since been contacting businesses to inform them of overpayments, but lawmakers want to change state law to ensure that future overpayments are refunded quickly.

SB 263 would require the state tax commissioner to notify businesses of overpayments and automatically issue refund checks or tax credits whether businesses formally request them or not.

“It’s time to resolve this issue and restore taxpayers’ rights in Ohio permanently,” said Rep. Al Landis of Dover, R-96th.

He added later, “If you overpaid your taxes, why should the government keep the money? The short answer is, they shouldn’t.”