Letters will go out Aug. 1 to 16 restaurants in Canton, notifying them that they owe more than $92,000 in total unpaid taxes, penalties and interest on under-reported mixed-drink sales. They will be given a certain number of days to appeal or pay up.
Acting on an independent audit that revealed the shortfall in the city’s mixed-drink tax, the City Council recently decided to give the businesses 15 days to appeal the finding. If they opt to pay the taxes and penalties owed and do so within 30 days, the city will waive any interest due.
But if a business fails to respond, “they’ll be subject to full amount of the tax, penalties and interest … and, ultimately, to the possible repeal of their alcohol license,” said Nathan Ingram, chief financial officer for Canton.
Canton levies a tax of 22 cents per liter, plus a 3 percent excise tax, on sales of distilled spirits by the drink.
In September, the city contracted with the Georgia Municipal Association and The Resource Professionals Group to review and analyze three years of wholesale liquor purchases and tax returns of the city’s 30 restaurants with mixed-drink licenses. The auditors found 16 whose numbers didn’t add up.
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