murky capitol hill updates
As varying reports about the state of the Capitol Hill shop pop up in different places, I wanted to take a moment to clarify a few points.
- I'm still hopeful that the DC Office of Tax and Revenue will be able to work with us to get murky capitol hill reopened. That office continues to play hot-potato with us, and we're stuck in a now almost month-long holding-pattern, with a new "you need to talk to so-and-so" every few days.
- The $427,395 figure mentioned in the Voice of the Hill and elsewhere is our current "in the system" liability to DC, with the majority of that amount based on assessments from their audit office: from 2 particular months in 2006 for sales tax, and two filings for "unincorporated franchise tax" (which is like income tax on the business profits). Those assessments were for over $200,000 more than the actual submitted returns. All four of those returns WERE previously submitted to the DC tax office (they have the "true" filings for months before and after the months in question), but they were apparently lost by the DC office. ("assessments" are estimates by the tax office)
- Part of the "holding pattern" right now is that we need to correct that $427,395 figure down to the accurate figures. Copies of those previously submitted returns had been sent to the DC Office of Tax and Revenue immediately after the shop was shut down, but the Audit department there has played hot-potato (so to speak) with them ever since.
- I have never denied my responsibility to pay these taxes. There were mistakes made due to financial mismanagement in more than one way. That said, I have complied 100% with the DC OTR since this issue came up, and have dialed 202-442-____ phone numbers no less than 500 times (with 490 of those times resulting in nobody picking up), trying and pleading with the DC OTR to work with us to resolve the issues. To this date, we have made little to no apparent progress with them.
Thank you for all of the support and emails. I offer my sincerest apologies to everyone, particularly to folks who have left comments or sent emails that express some level of displeasure, for this whole debacle.
Stay tuned.
Nick
- I'm still hopeful that the DC Office of Tax and Revenue will be able to work with us to get murky capitol hill reopened. That office continues to play hot-potato with us, and we're stuck in a now almost month-long holding-pattern, with a new "you need to talk to so-and-so" every few days.
- The $427,395 figure mentioned in the Voice of the Hill and elsewhere is our current "in the system" liability to DC, with the majority of that amount based on assessments from their audit office: from 2 particular months in 2006 for sales tax, and two filings for "unincorporated franchise tax" (which is like income tax on the business profits). Those assessments were for over $200,000 more than the actual submitted returns. All four of those returns WERE previously submitted to the DC tax office (they have the "true" filings for months before and after the months in question), but they were apparently lost by the DC office. ("assessments" are estimates by the tax office)
- Part of the "holding pattern" right now is that we need to correct that $427,395 figure down to the accurate figures. Copies of those previously submitted returns had been sent to the DC Office of Tax and Revenue immediately after the shop was shut down, but the Audit department there has played hot-potato (so to speak) with them ever since.
- I have never denied my responsibility to pay these taxes. There were mistakes made due to financial mismanagement in more than one way. That said, I have complied 100% with the DC OTR since this issue came up, and have dialed 202-442-____ phone numbers no less than 500 times (with 490 of those times resulting in nobody picking up), trying and pleading with the DC OTR to work with us to resolve the issues. To this date, we have made little to no apparent progress with them.
Thank you for all of the support and emails. I offer my sincerest apologies to everyone, particularly to folks who have left comments or sent emails that express some level of displeasure, for this whole debacle.
Stay tuned.
Nick
posted at 2:58:00 PM -3 comments-
3 Comments:
We're sending you cyber hugs from the Barista Mag office, Nick. Thank you for your candor -- we support you.
xo
sarah & ken
Best of luck reopening the shop, Nick. We miss you on the hill.
Also: Thanks for the update! Your silence was getting scary! Keep us in the loop, please. :)
Nick,
Best of luck to you and your staff as you work through this problem.
Warmly,
Marie
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