Wyoming Business Tips for Feb. 3-9

A weekly look at issues facing Wyoming business owners and entrepreneurs from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming.

By Bruce Morse, regional director, Wyoming SBDC Network

Tax time is upon us and, near the end of 2019, business owners likely received notices from their county assessors regarding taxes and their personal property that are used in their businesses. This is often confusing, especially for new business owners who may be seeing information on their personal property taxes for the first time.

Personal property tax is a tax on anything that is not real property. Examples are office furniture, computers, small equipment and tools. The administration of the tax varies slightly by county in Wyoming. The primary statute requiring the tax is Wyoming Statute 39-13-103(b) (v). There are more statutes and rules covering personal property.

In summary, these statutes and rules mandate that county assessor’s offices around the state discover, list and value all equipment owned by businesses. Wyoming is a self-reporting state, which means that the assessors rely on businesses to report their equipment annually. This is the primary means of discovery; however, when a business does not report, other methods of discovery come into play. Information from sources such as the Wyoming Secretary of State, advertising and canvassing also lead to discovery of nonreporting businesses.

The extended version of this Biz Tip -- with details on what happens if you don’t report, how values are determined and what the timeline for the process looks like -- can be found at www.wyomingsbdc.org/biz-tips/.

If you need help navigating the tax season for your small business, an upcoming webinar series, titled “Tax Considerations for the Self-Employed,” will go into detail about everything you need to know. The three-part series will take place Feb. 6, 13 and 20. You also can contact your local Wyoming SBDC Network adviser for no-cost, confidential assistance at www.wyomingsbdc.org.

Special thanks to Park County Assessor Pat Meyer for providing information about this topic for this column.

The Wyoming SBDC Network offers business expertise to help Wyoming residents think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their businesses. The Wyoming SBDC Network is hosted by UW with state funds from the Wyoming Business Council and funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email wsbdc@uwyo.edu, or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY 82071-3922.