GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILING THE GENERAL …

1 (REV. 2007)STATE OF HAWAIIDEPARTMENT OF TAXATIONGENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILING THEGENERAL EXCISE/USE TAX RETURNSCONTAINS THE FOLLOWING:Page Excise/Use Tax Returns GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS .. 2-3 GENERAL Excise/Use Tax Activity Classifications .. 4-6 Step-By-Step INSTRUCTIONS for Filling in Your Form G-45 (Periodic Return) .. 7-12 Step-By-Step INSTRUCTIONS for Filling in Your Form G-49 (Annual Return and Reconciliation) .. 13-18 Schedule of GENERAL Excise Tax Exemptions and Deductions .. 19-21 Division of Gross Income Among Taxpayers .. 21 Schedule of Use Tax Exemptions and Deductions.

2 22 NOTE:Periodic GENERAL excise/use tax returns (Form G-45), the annual GENERAL excise/use tax return (Form G-49), andthe Application For Extension Of Time To File The Annual Return And Reconciliation GENERAL Excise/Use Tax(Form G-39) may be electronically filed (e-filed) with the Department of Taxation. For more information, go tohttp Address InformationHAWAII DEPARTMENT OF BOX 1425 HONOLULU, HI 96806-1425 GENERAL EXCISE/USE TAX RETURNSGENERAL INSTRUCTIONSC hanges You Should Note Amounts received after June 13, 2007, by theoperator of the hawaii convention center forreimbursement of costs or advances madepursuant to a contract with the hawaii tourismauthority are exempt from the GENERAL excisetax.

3 (Act 173, Session Laws of hawaii (SLH)2007) Effective July 1, 2007, the sale of alcohol fu-els is exempt from the GENERAL excise tax.(Act 209, SLH 2007) Amounts received after June 30, 2007, by aprofessional employment organization (PEO)from a client company equal to amounts thatare disbursed by the PEO for wages, salaries,payroll taxes, insurance premiums, and bene-fits of the assigned employees at a clientcompany are exempt from the GENERAL excisetax; provided that the PEO has not failed tocollect, account for, and pay over any incometax withholding for assigned employees orany federal or state taxes for which the PEOis responsible.

4 (Act 225, SLH 2007) Effective January 1, 2008, the GENERAL excisetax exemption for amounts received by man-agers in reimbursement of condominium com-mon expenses is extended to amountsreceived by submanagers. (Act 239, SLH2007) Effective January 1, 2008, the GENERAL excisetax exemption for amounts received by hoteloperators in reimbursement of hotel employeeexpenses is extended to amounts received bysuboperators and to employee expenses intimeshare projects. (Act 239, SLH 2007) Effective January 1, 2007, a new countysurcharge on the State's GENERAL exciseand/or use taxes will be imposed on Hawaiitaxpayers.

5 Although only the City and Countyof Honolulu is levying the county surcharge,taxpayers in ALL counties may be provisions of the GENERAL excise and usetax laws are applicable to the county sur-charge. The county surcharge does not applyto gross income or gross proceeds taxable atthe or the tax rates. Taxpayersare required to complete a schedule on theirperiodic and annual GENERAL excise and usetax returns summarizing the amount of taxesassigned to each county. (Act 247, SLH2005) The Forms G-45 and G-49 have been revisedso you can file an amended return on FormG-45 or Form G-49 to change the Form G-45or Form G-49 you already filed.

6 Forms G-54and G-55 have been made GENERAL Excise TaxThe GENERAL excise tax is a privilege tax imposedon business activity in the State of hawaii . The taxis imposed on the gross income received by theperson engaging in the business activity. Activitiessubject to the tax include wholesaling, retailing,farming, services, construction contracting, rental ofpersonal or real property, business interest income,and Must FileEvery person doing business in hawaii during thetaxable year must get a GENERAL excise tax licenseand file the appropriate returns, regardless of howmuch income the business earns, and whether ornot the business also incurred losses.

7 Every per-son receiving rents from real property owned in Ha-waii is considered to be doing business, and mustfile person who uses in this State tangible per-sonal property, services, or contracting which areimported into hawaii , regardless if at the time of im-portation, the property, services, or contracting isowned by the importer, purchased from a seller thatdoes not have a GENERAL excise tax license, or how-ever acquired, must file a return to report use taxinaddition togeneral excise the GENERAL Excise and Use Tax Laws, per-son means every separate legal entity, eventhough it might not pay net income tax or file a netincome tax return.

8 For example, although a part-nership that is doing business does not pay net in-come tax on the income it earns, the partnership(rather than its partners) is required to pay generalexcise or use tax. However, if the grantor of a re-vocable living trust reports all items of the trust s in-come on the grantor s individual net income taxreturn, the grantor rather than the trust will reportand pay GENERAL excise tax on the trust s Tax Information Release No. 94-5 for more in-formation. Furthermore, a husband and wife mayfile joint GENERAL excise and use tax most circumstances, GENERAL excise tax returnsdo not have to be filed by: Individuals not engaged in business.

9 If an in-dividual s only business is performing per-sonal services as an employee under thedirection and control of an employer, returnsare not required, but an individual who rentsout real property or performs services as anindependent contractor, even as a side busi-ness, must report and pay tax on that income. Financial institutions. Afinancial institutionthat is subject to the Franchise Tax Law(Chapter 241, hawaii Revised Statutes(HRS)), and that earns only income that istaxable under that law, only needs to file afranchise tax return. See Section ,HRS, for more information.

10 Public utilities owned and operated by theState or a political subdivision of it, or publicservice companies subject to the Public Ser-vice Company Tax Law (Chapter 239, HRS).If, however, a public service company re-ceives income from directory advertising, in-terest income, or income not included in themeasure of the tax imposed by Chapter 239,HRS, GENERAL excise tax returns must be filedto report and pay tax on those amounts. Insurance companies subject to the insurancepremiums tax (Sections 431:7-201 to431:7-205, HRS). If, however, an insurancecompany receives rents from investments inHawaii real property, GENERAL excise tax re-turns must be filed to report and pay tax onthat income.