BOISE — Idaho State Tax Commission officials are reminding Idahoans that purchases made over the Internet in 2012 can be accounted for when filing their Idaho income tax returns.

    What people may not realize is that if you don’t pay sales tax when you buy something online, you owe money to the state in the form of a “use tax.” This tax applies to residents that live in any state that has a sales tax.

    “The use tax has been around since the inception of the sales tax in 1965,” said Randy Tilley, administrator of the Idaho State Tax Commission’s Audit and Collections Division. “It’s in place to assure that items purchased for use in Idaho are treated the same as those that are sold in Idaho, and that our local merchants aren’t at a price disadvantage because of the requirement to charge sales tax.”

    Idaho makes it easy for taxpayers to pay their use tax when they file their annual income tax return:

    • Full-year residents who file Form 40, (Idaho Individual Income Tax Return), can pay their use tax on line 28 of the tax return.

    • Part-year residents can pay it on line 48 of Form 43, (Idaho Part-Year Resident & Nonresident Income Tax Return).

    Taxpayers can also fill out Form 850-U, (Idaho Self-Assessed Use Tax Worksheet and Return), available at tax.idaho.gov, and pay use tax at any time during the year.

    For more information about use tax, visit tax.idaho.gov and enter “use tax” in the search box on the home page. You can also get help by calling the Idaho State Tax Commission at (800) 972-7660.