Connecticut allowed certain businesses here to delay sales and room occupancy tax payments for as long as two months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but bills are coming due.
The Department of Revenue Services (DRS) issued a reminder Thursday that any tax filers who qualified for an automatic payment extension for sales and use taxes and room occupancy taxes must pay by June 1.
For businesses that pay quarterly, the amounts due will cover the January to March period. For monthly filers, the bills will cover February and March activity. In addition, monthly filers will also have to remit their April payments on June 1.
Barring any future changes from DRS, quarterly filers will pay their second-quarter sales and occupancy taxes on July 31, as usual.
While the payment deadline looms, Connecticut budget experts can only take their best guess at how badly state tax collections — especially the sales tax, which has contributed over $4 billion a year — will suffer as a result of a pandemic that has partially shut down the state’s economy and fueled 565,000 unemployment claims since mid-March.
Analysts recently projected a decline of $7 billion in state revenue between now and mid-2023, including a $2.3 billion deficit in the coming fiscal year and a $934 million shortfall in the current fiscal year that ends June 30 — all but promising to wipe out the state’s rainy day fund.Â
