State: Shopping online? Pay use tax

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - With holiday shopping getting in full swing this week, the Indiana Department of Revenue is reminding Hoosiers to track what they buy online and through catalogs.

Not all retailers charge Indiana sales tax when Hoosiers shop online, and the Department of Revenue said shoppers are responsible for use tax when taxes are filed.

"If you make a purchase and the online or catalog retailer does not collect Indiana's seven percent sales tax, you are required by law to pay that same seven percent as a use tax," said department spokesman Bob Dittmer in a news release. “At the end of the year, when you are preparing your 2012 individual tax return, simply total those purchases, take seven percent, and that's your use tax. This does, of course, require you to either keep records of your online or catalog purchases.”

Indiana began the use tax policy in 1969. Last year, more than 28,000 state taxpayers reported use tax, of the more than 3.1 million that filed individual income tax returns.