Use Tax Rate: 3.75 percent
Use tax is imposed on the use, storage or consumption of tangible personal property or taxable services not subjected to the city sales tax (e.g. supplies, fixtures, furniture and equipment [not inventory] that is stored, used or consumed within Aurora upon which no local sales tax was paid at the time of purchase, lease or rental).
In other words, use tax is simply "sales tax that wasn't paid to the vendor."
Download a sales and use tax return form. (PDF)
Items Delivered into City from Out-of-City Vendor
It is the responsibility of the Aurora business making a purchase from a company outside of Aurora to verify that the vendor is licensed to collect Aurora tax, if in fact the company does charge a local sales tax on its invoice. Sales tax paid to an unlicensed vendor does not result in payment to the city. As a result, the purchaser is still responsible for payment of Aurora use tax.
Examples of Taxable Situations Concerning Use Tax
1. ABC Paper Company buys a machine from a manufacturer in Chicago. ABC will use the machine to make books at its Aurora facility. The Chicago firm does not collect Aurora sales tax. ABC is required to pay the city 3.75 percent use tax. ABC will include this on line 10 of their sales tax return.
2. XYZ Bookstore buys a carload of cash registers. They will be stored in Aurora and shipped to various stores in and out of Aurora as needed. The vendor did not charge XYZ Aurora sales tax. XYZ must pay 3.75 percent Aurora use tax on all cash registers, including those to be shipped to stores outside of Aurora. XYZ will include this on line 10 of their sales tax return.
3. Tafoya Construction Company buys a shipment of steel beams from a steel mill in Pittsburgh. The shipment is received in Aurora. The Pittsburgh firm does not collect Aurora sales tax. Tafoya is required to remit 3.75 percent Aurora use tax on the cost of the steel on line 10 of their sales tax return.
4. Angie Office Furniture has an executive chair in inventory. The President of Angie needs a new chair for her office. Because Angie is a dealer in office chairs, they buy them free of Aurora sales tax. When they withdraw the chair from inventory for their own use, they are required to pay 3.75 percent Aurora use tax. Angie will report the use tax on line 10 of their sales tax return.
Building Use Tax
Any person who builds, constructs or improves any building, dwelling or other structure or improvement to realty, within the city, and who purchases the necessary lumber, fixtures, materials or any other supplies needed therefore from any source, either within or without the corporate limits of the city, shall, as a prerequisite to issuance of any building permit, pay to the city a deposit, computed on the basis of:
1. 3.75 percent of 50 percent of the total cost of the structure or the building, or
2. 3.75 percent of the total cost of construction materials originally and permanently incorporated in the structure and, on residential, commercial and industrial structures, fixtures, built-in appliances and wall-to-wall carpeting originally placed in such residential, commercial and industrial structures.
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