STAND. COM. REP. NO. 537

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1007

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1007 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WITHHOLDING TAX,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to promote effective tax administration and mitigate burdens on employers by changing the frequency of filing income tax withholding returns from monthly to quarterly for all employers.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Taxation and the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

 

     Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that this measure would decrease the administrative burden on employers by reducing the number of withholding filings from twelve annual filings to four.  Your Committee further finds that requiring withholdings to be reported quarterly would align the State's filing requirements with the filing requirements of the federal government.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Requiring employers whose annual liability for taxes withheld exceeds $5,000, but does not exceed $40,000, to remit the complete amount of tax withheld on a monthly schedule; and

 

     (2)  Defining the term "monthly schedule" to mean on or before the fifteenth day of the calendar month following the month for which the taxes have been withheld.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1007, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1007, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair