These delinquent taxes owed to the state represent debts from individuals who had not previously filed tax returns, in some cases over several years. The tax collection project started in January 2008, and tax officials expect to net at least $20 million more by the time the program ends in June 2011.
“This project is part of the [Gov. Linda Lingle and Lt. Gov. James R. “Duke” Aiona] administration’s ongoing, focused effort to collect delinquent tax payments to ensure all Hawaii taxpayers pay their fair share and comply with state tax laws,” said Stanley Shiraki, director of DOTAX.
In partnership with CGI Technologies and Solutions, Dotax applied computerized tracking technology against a database of businesses and individual tax filing records. With these tools, tax officials could identify the delinquent taxpayers.
The state paid no upfront costs to start the project. Under contract terms with the state, CGI provided staffing, equipment upgrades and computer programming for all improvements against one-third of all collected returns to a maximum of $25 million dollars, according to DOTAX. The rest of the back taxes will go to the state.
CGI has already received its maximum allowable return, but will continue to assist with the collection effort, program improvement, training and equipment upgrades. Discovery of these previously unfiled and unreported tax payments, DOTAX said, will continue to result in future tax payments from these identified sources.
