To some it is considered an established art form, while for others it resembles a contact sport. I am not talking about the latest American realist painter or an upcoming cage match in professional wrestling. Rather, I am referring to the holiday shopping season where bargain-conscious shoppers annually scour countless sales fliers and Internet sites in search of the best deal.

Oftentimes, online stores offer consumers the best price because they do not routinely add the sales tax to the purchase price, such as the 6 percent levy for Pennsylvania residents. The state of Pennsylvania is working to end the online tax holiday by ramping up efforts to collect a "use tax" from online shoppers and Internet stores. The commonwealth passed the little-known law in 1953 that requires state residents to pay a 6 percent tax on any taxable goods or services that were not collected by the vendor.The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue wants you to pay the use tax and has taken a step toward making it easier to comply with the law. Beginning with this tax-filing season, the state has added a line (number 25) to the 2011 PA-40 personal income tax return to enter your tax obligation for taxable online purchases that were not taxed by the merchant. In prior years, taxpayers had to file a form called a PA-1 and remit the use tax with it.Of course, most Pennsylvanians were not aware of their use tax responsibilities, and even if they did know, they did not file the proper PA-1 form and pay the tax. The majority of businesses in the state do, however, pay the use tax because the probability they will get caught and penalized is higher. Businesses paid most of the $388 million the state realized from the use tax in fiscal year 2011. Individuals, though, have not voluntarily stepped forward to pay the estimated $350 million in use tax due from them in fiscal year 2011, the state estimates.The use tax also accomplishes two goals: It adds additional revenue to state coffers, which will lessen the budget deficit, and it represents a tangible way to help make Pennsylvania businesses more competitive with out-of-state online vendors that are not making customers lay out an extra 6 percent on their purchases.While the Department of Revenue's efforts will be focused on getting Amazon and other online retailers to collect sales tax at the time of sale, until that is accomplished audits of Pennsylvania businesses will be expanded to ensure complete use tax reporting and remittance. Collection of the use tax from businesses will have the highest return in the form of additional collections. During 2011, the department sent out more than 100,000 letters to businesses reminding them of their use tax obligation and providing incentives for compliance.The use tax owed by individuals is not being ignored, but the state knows enforcement will be difficult due to a large number of taxpayers who each individually owe only a small amount, if any at all. The commonwealth, however, also is pursuing efforts to encourage individuals to report use tax. More than 70 percent of Pennsylvanians will e-file their state tax returns this year. The online system has been programmed to reject returns unless a number for use tax is entered on line 25 of the PA-40. A taxpayer can report zero as that number, but cannot leave line 25 blank. The implication is that a taxpayer who reports a zero tax obligation for the use tax, but does in fact owe something, is guilty of misrepresentation on a tax return - a serious offense if discovered.Many people can make arguments for or against sales or use taxes as currently enacted. The purpose of this editorial, however, is only to present information on the use tax and recent changes in collection efforts by Pennsylvania. It is up to the individual taxpayer to pay their fair share as constituted in the 1953 law.Fred Croop, Ed.D.,

M.B.A.,

C.M.A.,

C.P.A., dean of the Misericordia Univ.College of Professional Studiesand Social Sciences