Salem, OR — Drafts of eight administrative rules for Oregon’s new Corporate Activity Tax (CAT) are now available to the public on the CAT page of the Department of Revenue’s website at www.oregon.gov/dor, agency officials said today.
“The taxpaying community has expressed significant interest in the CAT administrative rulemaking process,” said Nia Ray, director of the Oregon Department of Revenue. “By prioritizing the creation of rules that the agency believes are most urgently needed, and sharing them as early as possible, we hope to minimize the risk of confusion and non-compliance.”
The Oregon Legislature created the Corporate Activity Tax in House Bills 3427 and 2164 during the 2019 session and gave the Department of Revenue the responsibility of writing administrative rules to implement the new law.
The agency has identified nearly three dozen issues which may need to be addressed with administrative rules. Those issues have been prioritized into three groups.
The first group of rules—those most business taxpayers and tax preparers have said they need to understand first—will be officially filed with the Secretary of State on Jan. 1, 2020. The other two groups will follow on Feb.1, 2020 and March 1, 2020.
The eight drafts posted on the agency’s website this week address:
Sharing draft rules ahead of officially filing them allows business taxpayers and tax professionals time to review the rules and use them as guidance on how to proceed starting Jan. 1. It also offers them an additional opportunity to have input into the rules.
The agency previously engaged more than 800 stakeholders in the rulemaking process through a series of public meetings, video conferences and conference calls. Department officials said they will welcome additional feedback on the draft rules. Those with comments can send feedback via email to catrules.dor@oregon.gov. (Please include “comments on draft rules” in the subject line.)
When officially filed with the Secretary of State all of the rules for the CAT will initially be adopted as temporary rules. Temporary rules are only good for 180 days. Starting April 1, 2020 the department will begin the process of adopting permanent rules for the CAT. That process involves public comment, giving stakeholders another chance to provide input.
The CAT is imposed on businesses for the privilege of doing business in Oregon. It applies to all business entities including those located inside and outside of Oregon. It is measured on a business’s commercial activity—the total amount a business realizes from commercial activity in Oregon.
Businesses with taxable commercial activity in excess of $1 million must pay the Corporate Activity Tax. The tax is $250 plus 0.57% of gross receipts greater than $1 million after subtractions.
More information about the Corporate Activity Tax is available on the Department of Revenue’s website. It includes a list of frequently asked questions and a form to sign-up for email updates on the CAT. Stakeholders can direct questions or comments about the CAT via email to cat.help.dor@oregon.gov or call 503-945-8005.
Visit www.oregon.gov/dor to get tax forms, check the status of your refund, or make tax payments; call 800-356-4222 toll-free from an Oregon prefix (English or Spanish); 503-378-4988 in Salem and outside Oregon; or email questions.dor@oregon.gov. For TTY (hearing or speech impaired), call 800-886-7204.