The director of the Iowa Department of Revenue now says the Iowa Tax Amnesty Program brought in 26.5 million dollars in additional revenue for the state. That is less than half of an estimate of overall money the program would net as the amnesty started in September.
But director Mark Schuling says — when it comes to new money — they did better than expected. Schuling says they had anticipated collecting 16 million dollars in new money, and they took in over 26-million. He says the outstanding money they hoped to collect that they knew about is coming in right as expected.
Schuling says he’d call the program a success. Schuling says it’s been 21 years since they’ve had an amnesty, and took in the new money, and were able to identify new taxpayers that will now be on the tax rolls, and have gotten rid of a lot of accounts receivable in the department. Schuling says the new taxpayers will continue to add to the taxes the state takes in.
Schuling says they estimate there are a little more than 25-hundred new filers that they didn’t have in the past. He says they also closed more than 29-hundred accounts receivable and approximately 60 protests that were in litigation. The amnesty program gave those with taxes due, the chance to have the interest against them dismissed, and half the penalty if they paid their taxes. The state spent 500-thousand dollars to advertise the tax amnesty program.