The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has notified us that they found additional income that was not reported on the federal tax return for the year you have been billed. If the IRS made a change to their original revision, please send us a copy of the letter you received from the IRS showing what they changed.
Attach a copy of the letter to the billing notice sent to you by us and mail in the return envelope provided to Central Collections.
Submit the Penalty Waiver Request form to ask for the penalty to be removed.
Disclaimer: The Department may only waive penalty in specific circumstances as provided in the Iowa Code. The Department may not waive penalty for reasons of convenience or financial hardship. Interest cannot be waived.
We calculate penalty and interest at the time the return and payment are received. The payment is applied to fees first, penalty second, interest third, and, finally, to the tax amount due. Therefore, the balance due remains in the tax column on the billing notice.
We bill penalty and interest based on the postmark date on the envelope in which the return or payment was mailed or the date we received the transmission if you paid electronically.
The billing notice is automatically printed and sent if the system still shows a balance due. It could take 4 to 6 weeks to process the information you sent.
If you receive another notice after six weeks, contact our accounts receivable call center at 515-281-3114.
You must file a sales or withholding return even if you have no tax to report. If you are registered to file sales tax or withholding tax and have not filed a return, we will estimate a tax amount and bill you. This will continue until actual returns are received, or until you cancel your registration for sales or withholding tax.
Filing Frequencies and Return Due Dates
Registration change or cancel form
We calculate how much sales tax you owe based on the information you supply on your sales tax return.
Check the calculations on your return. Also check that the payments claimed as deposits were made and have been cashed.
The most common errors are:
Included sales tax collected in the amount reported as gross sales.
To take the sales tax out of the gross receipt figure, use the following formula:
Gross receiptsxxx.xx
Divided by1.0xthe second number after the decimal is the state sales tax %, plus local option
Your refund is being held for a debt that you owe with the State of Iowa. If, after the debt has been paid, there is a portion of your refund remaining, it will be sent to you. Please allow at least six weeks for us to process your refund.
If you have a payment agreement with the Iowa Department of Revenue, that does not stop us from taking your refund(s) to pay the balance due.
The federal refund is taken first to pay your debt; then the state refund is used. It could take up to six weeks to determine how much of your state refund is needed.
You will receive notification from the agency that is taking your refund.
If the refunds or your payments overpay your state debt, the balance will be returned to you. Again, please allow six weeks to process your refunds and payments.
If you have a payment agreement with the Iowa Department of Revenue, that does not stop us from taking your refund(s) to pay the balance due.
You have a debt with the Iowa Department of Revenue or other agency. For more information regarding this debt, call 515-281-3114.
For further information concerning the payment(s) involved, contact the agency that is making payment to you