2012 Survey of Business Owners

SBO-1/2-L1

(2012)

Please reply to:

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

1201 EAST TENTH STREET

JEFFERSONVILLE IN 47134-0001

FROM THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR ECONOMIC PROGRAMS

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

Your 2012 Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons (SBO) questionnaire (Form SBO-1 or SBO-2) is enclosed. Please complete and return your census form or report online by the DUE DATE shown to the left of the address label.

Title 13, United States Code, Sections 131, 193 and 224, requires your response and Section 9 guarantees that your response is confidential and will only be used for statistical purposes. Applicable provisions of the law are shown on the back of this letter.

The 2012 Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons is part of the Economic Census, which is taken every 5 years. The SBO provides the government and businesses with essential data on the demographic and economic composition of businesses in the United States and creates comprehensive estimates of the characteristics of U.S. businesses and their owners. Information

from your business is needed to provide reliable data for your industry and geographic area.

To help you complete the 2012 Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons:

• Please read all instructions before completing the form. You may use estimates if book figures are not readily available.

• Return the completed original questionnaire to the Census Bureau in the enclosed postage-paid envelope or report electronically by using our online interactive application, Centurion. To use this secure user-friendly application, go to <census.gov/sbo2012>, where you will find instructions for using Centurion.

• We have included with this package a set of answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding this survey. You can also access the SBO business help site at <census.gov/sbohelp>.

• If you cannot find an answer on the enclosure or on the Internet, our customer help line

(1-888-824-9954) is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Eastern time. When calling, please refer to the 11-digit User ID shown to the left of the address label on the report form.

• Si usted habla español y necesita ayuda para completar su cuestionario, llame sin cargo alguno al 1-888-824-9954, entre las 8 a.m. y 6 p.m., hora del este, de lunes a viernes.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation and for helping the U.S. Census Bureau measure America’s people, places, and our economy.

Sincerely,

William G. Bostic, Jr.

Enclosures

QUOTES FROM TITLE 13 – UNITED STATES CODE (U.S.C.)

For more details, see http://bhs.econ.census.gov/bhs/pages/legal.html

PROTECTION OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION - SECTION 9

9. Information as confidential; exception

(a) Neither the Secretary, nor any other officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or

agency thereof, or local government census liaison, may, except as provided in section 8 or 16 or chapter 10

of this title or section 210 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related

Agencies Appropriations Act, 1988 –

1. use the information furnished under the provisions of this title for any purpose other than the statistical purposes for which it is supplied; or

2. make any publication whereby the data furnished by any particular establishment or individual under this title can be identified; or

3. permit anyone other than the sworn officers and employees of the Department or bureau or agency thereof to examine the individual reports.

No department, bureau, agency, officer, or employee of the Government, except the Secretary in carrying out the purposes of this title, shall require, for any reason, copies of census reports which have been retained by any such establishment or individual. Copies of census reports which have been so retained shall be immune from legal process, and shall not, without the consent of the individual or establishment concerned, be admitted as evidence or used for any purpose in any action, suit, or other judicial or administrative proceeding.

AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT ECONOMIC CENSUSES - SECTION 131

131. Collection and publication; five-year periods

The Secretary shall take, compile, and publish censuses of manufactures, of mineral industries, and of other businesses, including the distributive trades, service establishments, and transportation (exclusive of means of transportation for which statistics are required by law to be filed with, and are compiled and published by, a designated regulatory body), in the year 1964, then in the year 1968, and every fifth year thereafter, and each

such census shall relate to the year immediately preceding the taking thereof.

AUTHORITY TO COLLECT PRELIMINARY AND SUPPLEMENTAL STATISTICS – SECTION 193

193. Preliminary and supplemental statistics

In advance of, in conjunction with, or after the taking of each census provided for by this chapter, the Secretary may make surveys and collect such preliminary and supplementary statistics related to the main topic of the census as are necessary to the initiation, taking, or completion thereof.

MANDATORY PROVISIONS OF LAW – SECTION 224

224. Failure to answer questions affecting companies, businesses, religious bodies, and other organizations; false answers.

Whoever, being the owner, official, agent, person in charge, or assistant to the person in charge, of any company, business, institution, establishment, religious body, or organization of any nature whatsoever, neglects or refuses, when requested by the Secretary or other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof, to answer completely and correctly to the best of his knowledge all questions relating to his company, business, institution, establishment, religious body, or other organization, or to records or statistics in his official custody, contained on any census or other schedule or questionnaire prepared and submitted to him under the authority of this title, shall be fined not more than $500¹; and if he willfully gives a false answer to any such question, he shall be fined not more than $10,000.

¹The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (18, U.S.C. 3551 et seq.) supersedes this penalty amount and specifies a fine of not more than $5,000.

SBO-1/2-L1 (2012)