Kokua Line: Must ride-share drivers pay general excise tax?
Question : Are ride-share drivers required to pay GET in Hawaii ? Most drivers that have picked me up stated they don't have a GET license and don't pay GET. They said Uber and Lyft don't require them to have a GET license as part of the sign-up process. Could the Hawaii Tax Enforcement Division contact the ride-share platforms and make it a requirement to have a GET license as part of the driver sign-up process ? This is what Nevada does. This would increase money given to the state and prevent back-owed taxes due to penalties.
Answer : Here's the response from Gary H. Yama shiroya, a spokesperson for the state Department of Taxation :
'Both ride-share companies and their drivers must pay general excise taxes (GET ).
'The companies are treated as 'marketplace facilitators' … As stated in (Tax Information Release No. 2019-03 (Revised ), ), Act 2 deems marketplace facilitators (Uber, Lyft, etc.) to be the retail sellers of all products and services sold through their marketplaces. The GET rate for these sales is 4 % plus any applicable county surcharge.
'Act 2 further deems the sales of marketplace sellers (drivers ) made through marketplace facilitators to be sales at wholesale under section 237-4, HRS, which defines wholesale sales and has a rate of 0.5 %.
'Regarding the second question, the companies are well aware of their responsibility to pay GET and drivers should be aware as in any other similar industry. We agree that as a service to their drivers, ride-share companies should provide guidance and LYFT, for example, does so specifically about Hawai 'i's GET : .
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'It should be noted that DOTAX does identify ride-share drivers who are not in compliance and takes appropriate action.'
Anyone who needs a GET license can apply via the DOTAX website, at Hawaii Tax Online. For more information, go to Q : Last month, I bought a new car with a temporary dealer plate (paper ). What kind of permanent plate will I be getting ? I don't recall being given a choice. I have a gas car.
A : Check with your dealer to be sure, but in general Hawaii car dealers will receive America United 9 /11 organization license plates as the default alternative for standard-issue number plates (and EV plates ) during the shortage of license plates spelling Hawai 'i with an 'okina, said Harold Nedd, a spokesperson for Honolulu's Department of Customer Services.
Dealers typically submit the paperwork to obtain permanent license plates for new cars that left the lot with temporary tags, he said.
As Kokua Line has explained in past columns, the America United 9 /11 decal organization license plate was chosen as the default alternative during the shortage because it costs the same as a standard plate : $5.50 with no additional annual fee. The red, white and blue license plate decal was first issued in October 2001, to honor the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and to declare solidarity as Americans.
Car buyers who want a different organization or specialty plate should let the car dealer know when they are buying the car, and the dealer can order it at that time, Nedd said. The car owner can't order a new plate on their own while it has a temporary dealer tag, he said.
Although Kokua Line has mainly written about the shortage of standard number license plates and electric vehicle plates, because that's what readers have asked about, Nedd said there are about 50 categories of Hawaii license plates affected by the shortage of 'okina plates, including for government fleets such as TheBus and the Honolulu Police Department.———Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2-200, Honolulu, HI 96813 ; call 808-529-4773 ; or email kokualine @staradvertiser.com.------------Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2-200, Honolulu, HI 96813 ; call 808-529-4773 ; or email.------------
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