Hoosiers who took advantage of any online shopping in 2009 will want to check their receipts to see if Indiana sales tax was collected as part of those purchases. If not, those Hoosiers will need to total the amount of those purchases and report it on their 2009 Indiana income-tax filing by April 15, 2010.

“Indiana law has required Hoosiers to calculate and pay sales tax for a number of years on any catalogue, mail-order or online purchases where Indiana sales tax was not charged as part of the total sale,” said Commissioner John Eckart. “Too often we hear this reported to the public as ‘voluntary.’ But it’s no more voluntary than drivers being required to stop at a red traffic light even if a police officer isn’t around.”

Last year, more than 26,000 taxpayers in Indiana reported use tax, amounting to more than $1.6 million. Each year, more than 3.1 million people file individual income-tax returns in Indiana.

Indiana’s sales- and use-tax law is intended to ensure that local Indiana businesses, “those who set up shop in Indiana, provide jobs and are required to collect and pay state and local taxes,” Eckart said, are not put at an economic disadvantage against outof state businesses that are not required at this time to collect sales tax.