What problem does it solve? Small Businesses seeking to form a business entity, register for tax purposes and access PBS services find it difficult to navigate the registration process. The web page for formation and registering is text heavy and confusing for the first time user. Even the links to the online services is embedded into the text and easily overlooked. Following formation, registering for PBS is extremely difficult. Clear instructions are not available and customer assistance is nearly impossible to find. What is your solution and who does it apply to? The web page for registration needs a redesign making it more customer friendly. Those registering a new business will seek professional help to complete what should be a simple registration process, wasting money that could be used in their business. PBS needs a complete overhaul. It is very difficult to add a business to a PBS account. The drop down for business type is too long and duplicative, with the same business types listed multiple times. It gives little instruction or feedback when you get an error. The PBS system is so problematic that many businesses let their payroll company or accountant be the "prime user" for the business which means the owner no longer has access to their own account unless they obtain assistance from DORES to manually change the prime users, and businesses are not aware of this fact. If a business fires an accountant they have no idea how to regain the primer user status for their own business. What is the anticipated impact? Giving business owners more effective and a customer service friendly experience will allow them to spend more time on planning or running their business, will require fewer calls for help in navigating the process, and save money when a business owner does not feel the need to hire professional assistance to perform simple tasks.
I would agree with any idea that will help business know what the State expects of them from registration through all associated responsibilities. This idea may also allow more businesses to register in NJ rather out-of-state, mitigating potential nexus issues (TP not reporting/paying NJ taxes on NJ-earned income because they are not a NJ-based business).
Taxpayers find it super difficult and complex to register a business with the State of NJ which should be a simple process. There are no clear instructions on how to register a business easily and they always seem to get different answers on how to do all of this correctly. In turn, it will discourage taxpayers from starting a new business in NJ which is not good for the economy of NJ. Registration should be simplified and Revenue and Taxation should combine to help this become simpler.
This content is created by the open source Your Priorities citizen engagement platform designed by the non profit Citizens Foundation