I was contacted recently by a company with the "states" letter head stating this was an attempt to collect a debt. Supposedly there was a partial sales tax paid on a vendors license with an outstanding amount of 100.00. This company claims the majority of it was paid late and the account was assessed a 60.00 late fee. Through the years they say interest has accumulated to make the debt almost 400.00. The letter says "Do NOT contact the States Attorney General's Office". After all of these years I do not have any information on this old business and I cannot confirm or deny this is a valid debt. They keep sending me information demanding I pay a "settlement" of almost half. I was told by someone that this is probably a company that "buys debts" and then pursues to collect them for sometimes as little as one and a half cent on the dollar. I used a friends cell phone to call and see what this was all about and they have called the friends cell asking for me. (They must have had caller ID) How can I get this settled? Isn't there a statute of limitaions on trying to collect a debt after 20 years?
I see no reason to not contact the state AG's office. This may be legit, or it may also be a scam, targetting former owners of defunct businesses long after they close. How else can you know, unless you contact the original creditor, the state? If they sold the "debt", they should still have records of what your liability was. What sales tax documents have they provided to substantiate the "debt"? If you remit sales tax to the state, you do it with a form to show how much is owed, based on what sales, and that form is dated and signed. Can they provide that form, and what date do they claim the late payment was received? Was that likely the last form your business submitted, based on its date, or were there other later submissions, indicating you and your business didn't just fall off the face of the earth, and that the state could have contacted you at the time if there was any discrepancy or late payment noted at the time.
