SALES TAX.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 83, 8 April 1933, Page 11

SALES TAX.

DIFFICULT RETURNS.

NEW BUSINESS WORRY. "FIRST MAY BE THE WORST." Though the requirements under the sales tax legislation arc expected to become less irksome wlien the system has been in existence for a few months, the universal opinion in commercial circles in the city at present is that they are particularly cumbersome and are occasioning much confusion.

The preparation of the first return, due on April 28, is now under way, but it is far from smooth. The delay in the publication of the regulations until some six weeks after the announcement of the tax, and the fact that the initial return has to be retrospective over that period, are criticised as the primary cause of the confusion which exists today. The forms for the issue of licenses and the consequent classification of business houses were issued on March 28, but the fact that three weeks is granted for taking out licenses is an impediment to the expeditious making up of the returns. Wholesalers are still in doubt as to the classification of their customers. Many of the latter have not yet sought classification and cannot give the required information to wholesalers who have nought the information either personally or by circular letter.

Anomalies have been revealed in the compilation of returns of taxable goods. Though items are included under this heading, when manufactured they come under the category of exempted goods. This point was stressed by a supplier of bakers' requisites, who instanced such supplies as malt extract and nuts. Under the Act these are taxable goods, but they lose .their identity when used in the manufacture of cakes, pastry, or bread, which are in the exempted list. The wholesaler included the values of these articles, on which he imposed the sales tax, in his return for the 5 per cent rebate, and the manufacturer, too, will seek a rebate for their value in his manufactured article. This case was cited as one of the many instances of unnecessary labour.

"The first return may be the worst. I sincerely hope it is ,and that our obligations will become simplified as everyone becomes more familiar with the sales tax and what it involves. At present, however, business houses are submitting to a most exasperating experience," added the head of another firm. Managerial tables are freely littered with sales tax explanations and forms at the present, and it is undoubtedly the most discussed subject of the commercial life of the city.