Contractors seek voice in how to collect back taxes
While the Treasury Dept. is on the hunt for federal contractors with back taxes, industry wants to be engaged in the process too.
The days of the federal government awarding large contracts to tax-delinquent contractors may be numbered and industry believes they should have a say about the new policy aimed at singling them out.
As required by the 2011 Three Percent Withholding Repeal and Job Creation Act, the Treasury Dept. is evaluating how well contractors are meeting current requirements to certify whether they have delinquent tax debts, reports the Federal Times.
But in a recent letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the Professional Services Council asked the Treasury Dept. to begin a dialogue with the contracting community on "how best to capture and use information about contractors that owe taxes," the publication said.
Recently, five Washington Technology Top 100 contractors were singled out for paying more for lobbying Congress than on their federal income taxes, according to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s “Dirty Thirty” list that call outs Fortune 500 companies that “spend big on lobbying and avoid taxes.”