Pa. expects $50M from new Internet sales reporting

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The administration of Gov. Tom Corbett is expecting about $50 million from its new efforts to collect taxes on items sold over the Internet.

The state Department of Revenue provided the estimate today.

Corbett is pressuring Internet-based sellers to collect the sales tax at the time of purchase, as Pennsylvania-based companies have to do.

In addition, the state’s 2011 personal income-tax return for the first time provides a line asking taxpayers to declare how much they owe in “use tax” on purchases they made online without paying the state sales tax.

Both are 6 percent. By law, sellers are supposed to collect the sales tax at the time of purchase. If they don’t, buyers are expected to pay the state the same amount in use tax.