The Indiana State Department of Revenue has announced a 2015 tax amnesty program lasting from September 15th to November 16th. Much like Oklahoma's Voluntary Compliance Initiative, Indiana's forgiveness program aims to collect outstanding tax liabilities from any individuals or customers with tax debts.
Indiana State 2015 Tax Amnesty Program
Indiana's tax amnesty program, like many similar state programs, allows a forgiveness of a broad range of both taxpayers and tax liabilities.
The Department of Revenue defines taxpayers for this program as:
…individual, assignee, receiver, commissioner, fiduciary, trustee, executor, administrator, institution, national bank, bank, co-signee, firm, partnership, joint venture, pool, syndicate, bureau, association, cooperative association, society, club, fraternity, sorority, lodge, corporation, limited liability company, Indiana political subdivision engaged in private or proprietary activities, estate, trust, or any other group or combination acting as a unit who is liable for the payment of taxes…
Any taxpayers eligible for amnesty will be notified by mail on September 15th, 2015; all known liabilities will be listed and the effective amount forgiven by taking part in the amnesty program will be included in this mail. This amnesty includes any interests, collection fees, and penalties that have accrued on a tax liability provided that the outstanding tax liability is paid in full through either a lump sum or payment plan.
I don't know much about Indiana (other than the Little 500), so here's Larry Bird.
Things to consider before looking for forgiveness
Before even thinking about entering this tax amnesty program, you want to be sure you will be able to pay either the lump sum or payment plan — defaulting on the amnesty program means you have to pay not only all accrued interest/penalties, and additional penalties assessed through the amnesty program itself. This additional penalty can be up to 100% of your initial penalty, effectively doubling what an individual was aiming to have forgiven.
In addition, this tax forgiveness program only applies to liabilities incurred before January 1st, 2015 and those who participated in the 2005 Indiana tax amnesty program are not eligible for the 2015 initiative.
A full digest of the amnesty program can be found here. While Indiana plans to officially implement the program on September 15th, it doesn't look like the Indiana Department of Revenue is quite ready to forgive taxes yet — the "Amnesty Forms" section of their site is conspicuously empty.
Lastly, the Indiana tax amnesty program will not resolve any federal tax issues. For that, you will need a federal tax amnesty program.
