Y’all all know that I’m more than a bit stressed coming out of tax season. Well, the Virginia Department of Taxation isn’t doing their part in helping me relieve any of it. You see, in their infinite wisdom, they decided to change the due date of the state withholding returns for monthly and quarterly* filers. For the monthly filers, the due date changed from the 20th to the 25th – good move, in my opinion. But for as long as I can remember, the returns due for the last month of the quarter as well as the returns due for the quarterly filers was due on the last day of the month. Think they kept that? Nope. They changed that due date to the 25th as well, the result being a reduction of five days to get the paperwork completed.
I’ve looked back through all the email notices that I have received from the VDT and can’t find a single one about this. Not sure what’s going on in the communications department but you’d think that a change like this would have been sent out to the list. After all, I get all the emails announcing the changes to the quarterly interest rates 😦
This needs to be fixed.
*UPDATE: The quarterly filers returns are still due on the last day of the month. That’s just even more of a mess.
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Since I’m picking on the VDT, let me add a few other things. The website touts that 85% of individual returns have been filed electronically this year. While that’s great, it could be better. I’ll bet a large portion of the returns being filed on paper are returns which include out-of-state tax credits for certain states. We are forced to file on paper returns containing out-of-state tax credits for any state other than NC or MD. What’s the deal here? Other states don’t have this problem. Can’t VA catch up?
And how about the fact that there is no way to debit bank accounts for balances due with extensions? It’s a real PITA to have to have clients send checks with the form. Yes, I know only a few states allow this now but Virginia needs to join the ranks.
Oh, and it sure would be nice to be able to debit bank accounts for estimated payments, like we can do on the federal side. We can deduct the balances due but not the estimates? Yes, I know the client can set this up themselves through the website. But if that’s the case, how come I can’t do it on my end?
Note that there’s nothing on the site about the electronic filing of other entity types, such as corporations and partnerships. That’s because VDT doesn’t accept them, again, like other states. What’s the hold up, VA?
The VDT has come a long way in electronic filing since the early days when they were one of the last states to adopt it. But it has a long way to go. The technology is there. It just has to be embraced.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 