On June 26th, Governor Snyder signed House Bill 5543, now Public Act (PA) 211 of 2012. By clarifying when Michigan’s four year statute of limitations begins, the new law will end the Michigan Department of Treasury’s current practice of conducting ten year use tax audits on registered Sales, Use, or Withholding taxpayers who have filed current returns. The PA amends Section 27a of the Revenue Act to provide that the filing of a return includes the filing of a combined, consolidated, or composite return whether or not any tax was paid and whether or not the taxpayer reported any amount in the Use Tax line, including zero.
PA 211 of 2012 expresses a legislative intent that the amendment be retroactive and effective for all tax years that are open under the statute of limitations provided in Section 27a, for all matters regarding the filing of a return under this section. PA 211 also expresses intent that the amendment not affect a refund required by a final court order for which all rights of appeal were exhausted or had expired before May 1, 2012.
