Tag: Minnesota counties

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Find More Than Street Names On This Map!

Black Friday. Cyber Monday. The holiday shopping season is underway again!

The Minnesota Department of Revenue can’t tell how much you’ll spend for gifts this year. But it has just drawn out a quick way to tell how much you can expect pay in state and local taxes.

Holiday shoppers now can pull up a Minnesota map on their computers or smartphones and find out whether they will pay only the state’s 6.875 percent sales tax or more on their merry purchases this season. The interactive Sales Tax Rate Map shows counties and cities; it also can drill down to the exact address and overhead “street view” of a single store.

We know you’re eager to try. So, call up https://taxmaps.state.mn.us/salestax/

If you consult the map for, say, Rochester, you’ll find a total rate of 8.125 percent. That includes the state rate (6.875) plus a city sales tax (0.75) and the county transit tax (0.5). The breakdown is shown in a panel next to the map.  In general, you can count on that visual to tell you the tax rates for your shopping trips.

The map isn’t all-encompassing, though. If you stop for a meal, take in a show or stay at a hotel in some areas, you might encounter “special local taxes,” such as Rochester’s 7.0 percent tax for lodging. Those rates aren’t shown on the map itself, but they are a click away online at the Revenue Department’s Web site. See Fact Sheet 164S (http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/businesses/sut/factsheets/FS164S.pdf) including Rochester, St. Paul and Mankato in this area, and Fact Sheet 164M, (http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/businesses/sut/factsheets/FS164M.pdf), which covers Minneapolis.

For many people, navigating the map probably is easier than punching in numbers. However, if shoppers prefer figures, Minnesota Revenue still runs its Sales Tax Rate Calculator at: http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/businesses/sut/Pages/SalesTaxCalculator.aspx

We at EricJohn Ltd. wish you a happy – and tax-savvy – shopping season!

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PAPER BANISHED; “E” IS IN FOR REPORTING REAL ESTATE BUYS

The official paper trail for a home purchase in Minnesota can’t be just paper any more. One required record goes all-digital on Oct. 1. In fact, courthouses won’t even accept a Certificate of Real Estate Value on paper, the state Department of Revenue is telling us.

Since 1978, anyone buying $1,000 or more worth of property in Minnesota has been required to submit the 4-part CRV form to a county courthouse or City Hall. Those purchase reports of houses, land and other real estate are important to state and local governments for determining property taxes, among other uses. About 145,000 CRVs are filed each year, according to DOR.

The state tax collectors have been working for years to convert the system to electronic submission for efficiency. A new “eCRV” became available in all counties in December 2011, but property buyers still could file paper copies, even if they merely duplicated the electronic version.

Now, paper has been declared obsolete. The eCRV is the sole way to submit the report for any sales made on or after Oct. 1, DOR says. For more information and how-to instructions, buyers can check the DOR Web site at http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/CRV/Pages/eCRV.aspx

Among its effects, the electronic filing has made a centralized database of real estate information available to the public.

DOR wasn’t the only group funding the conversion. Minnesota’s counties contributed, based on their 2005 filings of CRVs, and the state’s real estate industry chipped in $25,000 to help with the costs.

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