Wichita and Cabela's correcting sales tax problem

(WICHITA, Kan.) — Cabela's shoppers have been over-charged since the store opened, and it's all because of a communications error.

The City of Wichita failed to inform the state about a special sales tax for Cabela's, so the state said the store can't collect the tax until July 1st. But customers are still being charged.

KWCH bought an item from Cabela's friday morning, and we were charged 10 cents for the CID tax. Cabela's was told Wednesday to stop collecting the 1.2% extra tax, but the store can't do a system upgrade on cash registers until this weekend.

"it is one of those things that we have a couple hoops to jump through," said Cabela's spokesperson Wes Remmer. "We triggered it as fast as we could and Saturday is the earliest it can go into affect."

So how did this happen? Cabela's was supposed to notify the city when it was ready to collect the tax. The city was then supposed to tell the state, but cabela's never sent that formal request in time
  
"As a large corporation, they had so many things to do with opening, they had forgotten basically the notification requirement," said Wichita City Manager Robert Layton. "We didn't remind them well in advance of that either."

The special sales tax money will help pay for the construction of a new highway interchange at K-96 and Greenwich.That project will still move forward despite this delay

Since the sales tax money goes directly to the state, Remmer says Cabela's is working with the Department of Revenue to see how or if refunds will be available to customers who've already paid the tax.

"Thats a big part of what we are talking about with all the key players," Remmer said.

Customers were surprised to learn of the error.

"Its just government stuff that happens all the time," said customer Jedd Rea.

Best advice, hold on to your cabela's receipt - it may be the best way to get a tax refund.

Layton says from now on when council members approve a special sales tax for a development, they'll put an effective date in the ordinance to avoid any similar problems in the future.