Glossary · Institutions & Instruments
ADOR
In short
The Arizona state tax agency. It administers Transaction Privilege Tax, publishes the contracting guidance, issues the forms, and conducts audits.
In full
The Arizona Department of Revenue. It administers transaction privilege tax, publishes the contracting guidance contractors work from, prescribes the exemption certificates and returns, and collects the tax for the state and the counties.
It also collects city tax, and the arrangement is statutory rather than voluntary. A.R.S. § 42-6001(A) requires the Department to collect and administer any transaction privilege and affiliated excise taxes imposed by any city or town, and requires the Department and each city or town to enter an intergovernmental contract or agreement providing a uniform method of administration, collection and audit.
That is why one return reaches three layers of government, and why the Model City Tax Code's term Tax Collector also means the Department where it is acting as the city's agent.
The Department publishes in several categories that carry different weight — webpages, rulings, procedures, notices, and written answers to individual questions. None of it is statute. Its own TPT Audit page states the order: where anything published is inconsistent with the Arizona Revised Statutes, the Model City Tax Code or the Arizona Administrative Code, those prevail.
A.R.S. § 42-6001(A); A.R.S. § 42-5008; ADOR TPT Audit; Model City Tax Code Appendix I