The data in this publication give a fairly complete picture of the corporate franchise tax for tax years 1994 and 1995. We have changed our perspective to the year of the return rather than the year the return is processed, as in previous publications. The data given is the most recent available for the tax year in review.

Corporate income taxes are not only complicated by their logic, but also by their timing. In 1993, a taxpayer may make an estimated payment on his 1993 taxes. In 1994, he will file a return and at that time may make an additional payment or receive a refund. If he has a loss he may even get a refund on a previous year's tax, using the loss carryback provision. In 1995, he may amend his return and change the data on his 1993 return filed in 1994, and make an additional payment or receive a refund.

In 1996, he may be audited, and his original return (1993) will change again. In addition to further payments for the 1993 tax year he maybe required to pay interest and penalties in 1996. In addition, his 1993 tax year may end on March 31, 1993 and include some prepayment made in September of 1992, or a loss incurred in 1996 and reported on the return in 1995, may be carried back to the 1992 and 1993 returns.

In sum, the revenue for a given tax year can span a number of fiscal years, and the return itself can be dynamic, changing depending on when it is examined.

A TECHNICAL DATA DESCRIPTION

For the majority of this report, the data is "Utah apportioned data," meaning that it has been multiplied by a factor that determines the Utah portion of a national figure for tax purposes. (More on apportionment will be found later.)

Since Utah has a minimum tax payment of $100 per taxable unit, some taxpayers pay a tax independent of their incomes. For this reason, we have divided the data into those that are minimum tax payers and those that really income based payers.

We have reported some data by income class. The income used is "Utah taxable income.^" For those who pay the minimum tax, we only have two divisions: those with no income (zero or less), and those with positive income. Those with positive income will generally have income less than $2,000. But multiple corporations that file together can be minimum tax payers, even with income over $2,000. For reasons of disclosure we have not reported their income in a more detailed way. (Examining the data tables will make this more clear.)

We have also reported the data according to a very broad sector breakdown. In this presentation, the income classes are larger for disclosure reasons. The "no income" "positive income," and detailed income classes have the same meaning as above.

In the data on apportionment, the income category is "before apportioninent" and the factors are weighted averages for class members, weighted by income before apportionment.