With the passage of a modified tax plan this past legislative session, Las Vegas business owners are dealing with substantial changes in how they’re taxed.
Effective July 1, the Nevada Revenue Plan increased certain existing business taxes and created a brand new one.
Gina Bongiovi with Bongiovi Law Firm is working with small business clients to sort through the new laws.
According to Bongiovi, the changes to the modified business tax essentially increases the number of businesses that pay it and changes to the business licensing fee increases the amount paid by corporations from $200 to $500.
The newest tax is probably the most confusing. The commerce tax applies a tax based on the type of business that you run.
"It can be very confusing, particularly if you have a business that falls into one or more of these NAICS categories, the industry categories," Bongiovi said.
The tax applies to business that have a gross revenue of more than $4 million a year.
Bongiovi said some of her clients who were moving from California to Nevada but haven't finished the move yet are rethinking the move because of the changes.
However, she points out the new taxes isn't really hurting Nevada's reputation as a low-tax state.
"But I still think we are with our laws and with everything else taken as a whole, we are still above the other states in tax friendliness," Bongiovi said.
Plus, like many people, Bongiovi believes there has been a lot of "fatigue" when it comes to our state's education system.
"While we aren't that crazy about paying new taxes, we're also not crazy about being 51st out of 50 in education in every survey that comes out," she said.
Gina Bongiovi, managing partner, Bongiovi Law Firm