By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD – Attention state tax dodgers: there may be an amnesty period coming up as part of the state budget to help New Hampshire collect more revenue in a tight budget year.

While New Hampshire has no income or sales tax, there are a number of other taxes that will be looked at closely. The Interest and Dividend tax was done away with as of Dec. 31, 2024, but there are other state taxes.

Among them are the Business Profits tax and Business Enterprise tax, and the Medicaid Enhancement Tax.

The Meals & Rooms Tax is paid by the consumer and is collected and remitted to the State on the 15th of each month by operators of hotels, restaurants, or other businesses providing taxable meals, room rentals, and motor vehicle rentals.

But if the amnesty period ends and you don’t pay up, the state is likely coming for you.

That was the message that Senate Finance Chairman James Gray, R-Rochester, and Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, issued at the end of an executive session Friday on the budget.

Lang said he recently met with officials from the Department of Revenue, including Commissioner Lindsey S. Stepp, to get a better picture on where projected revenues are for the state budget and he would likely be offering some new numbers based on revised outlooks next week.

“There are some instances where we are actually lower than the House and DRA is making recommendations of increased revenues, I will be coming in next week with as we take up the amendment for HB 1 which is the revenue projection. I will ask for a committee amendment to adjust some of those numbers based on my meeting with the commissioner. There are some areas where she felt that after having six more weeks with the data that she was able to provide better clarification of what those revenue numbers should look like. So I will be doing that,” Lang said.

But he also said DRA is working on an amendment to the budget with him which would allow for a tax amnesty program.

He said officials from the House of Representatives also met with DRA to revise their revenue projections which will be useful when the budget goes to them from the Senate.

Revenue projections were more positive in February with the governor’s budget but went down when the House was looking at the data and they put out a budget to reflect that which many termed dire.

The Senate has new projected revenue numbers which are about half way between what the governor and House projected and the committee is in the process of making recommendations on what to put back in that the House took out.

On Thursday and Friday, the committee also recommended returning funds to Corrections, keeping the Office of Child Advocate, closing the courts in Hooksett and Goffstown and putting back liquor enforcement.

Gray noted that the vote on all these items is the first of many with amendments expected and a final vote. That will likely occur the first week of June.

Lang said past amnesty programs the state has held have brought in as much as $19 million in the first years of the budget cycle but he said he thought it more likely that such a program could bring $5 million in the first year.

“We do this every 10 to 15 years where people who owe money to the state but haven’t paid it. We give them amnesty on the penalty and the interest to encourage them to come pay,” he said.

“Remember we changed the computer system for the Department of Revenue which makes it much easier for them to collect revenue and go after the people who owe revenue. So while we are not going to be anywhere near the $19 million, we might be adding $5 million revenue for the first year of the biennium,” Lang said.

Gray said the latter should be emphasized “because we do have the new computer system and it will be much easier to check federal (tax) returns against state returns and come up with anyone who has likely underpaid in the state so this is a great opportunity for them to get square…and anybody that you know that might have done that you might want to warn them because we are going to be looking very very closely at that after the amnesty goes through.”