Cute little baby playing on the floor by her working mother. Young mother with a baby and a dog, sitting on the floor and working. High angle of view.

Young mother with a baby sitting on the floor and working. (Photo from Getty Images).

BY:Ā Ā Ohio Capital Journal

Ohio lawmakers are considering a measure that could allow business owners to shift their tax burden for remote workers. Proponents of the idea argue itā€™s a way to simplify tax filing. But it could also make it easier for businesses to reduce their tax burden.

Current system and changes

State law allows municipalities to levy income taxes on businesses operating within city limits. Businesses determine how much they owe through a formula weighing payroll, sales and property.

But remote work has thrown a wrench into that calculation. The sales and payroll that businesses previously attributed to one office could now be spread over as many cities as they have employees. Ohio Chamber of Commerce general counsel Tony Long explained that presents an administrative nightmare for small businesses.

ā€œEmployers would need to track remote work locations of employees determine if the employee was using company property and if sales were generated from that remote location,ā€ he said, adding employers would ā€œpotentially face filing requirements to municipalities that they do not conduct business in or have property located in but for the remote worker.ā€

Long and others noted the potential expense of filing those returns could exceed the amount of tax they owe. To address the problem, businesses could apply their remote workers to a ā€œqualifying reporting locationā€ for the purposes of calculating taxes.

Itā€™s similar to emergency changes made early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses calculated taxes as if workers kept showing up in person even if they actually clocked in from their couch. The current bill, however, gives businesses the ability to change that reporting location at will.

Importantly, the changes only apply to business income tax ā€” not the payroll tax that makes up the biggest share of many cityā€™s local revenues. Still, according to proponents, business income tax makes up roughly 15% of overall tax base.

Potential pitfalls

Rep. Sean Brennan, D-Parma, was quick to zero in on the potential local impact. A former city councilman, he pressed Greg Saul from the Ohio Society of CPAs about the possibility of companies using the measure to ā€œdisproportionately decrease their tax burden.ā€

Saul insisted the intent is to be ā€œrevenue neutral,ā€ and the law wouldnā€™t create new avenues for tax avoidance.

ā€œIf that was the businessā€™s goal, I would think that that mechanism is available to them under current law,ā€ Saul argued. ā€œThis is really just trying to situs the net profits to a location that the business is at.ā€

Saul noted townships donā€™t charge a municipal income tax and businesses could always move out of state. Picking up stakes and moving, after all, is time-honored if cumbersome means of seeking lower taxes.

But if businesses can easily alter an employeeā€™s reporting location by simply changing an election on their tax forms, itā€™s easy to imagine companies working the angles. Some might go abatement shopping, jumping from one city to another. Others might ā€œshiftā€ workers to that warehouse just outside of town instead of their offices on main street.

Saul argued the measure has a ā€œgood faithā€ clause to avert those moves, but enforcement sounded a bit fuzzy.

ā€œThereā€™s a three-factor formula of how they can choose the remote work location, but the last one is (it) requires the employer to act in good faith when designating a reporting location,ā€ Saul said. ā€œAny city that is concerned about the location can challenge an employer on that point.ā€

Under the bill, companies should determine reporting location first by the place of business where an employee typically works. If there isnā€™t one ā€” for instance, because they work from home ā€” the company should next look to the place where their supervisor reports. But if the supervisor isnā€™t coming into the office either, the company has its pick of locations so long as it makes the designation in ā€œgood faith.ā€

Follow OCJ ReporterĀ Nick Evans on Twitter.

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NICK EVANS

Nick Evans has spent the past seven years reporting for NPR member stations in Florida and Ohio. He got his start in Tallahassee, covering issues like redistricting, same sex marriage and medical marijuana. Since arriving in Columbus in 2018, he has covered everything from city council to football. His work on Ohio politics and local policing have been featured numerous times on NPR.

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