Tax News

CCH (cch.taxgroup.com) reports:

The Department of Revenue has adopted a rule allowing discretionary penalty waivers for Oregon personal income tax, corporation excise and income tax, timber severance tax, and cigarette and tobacco products tax taxpayers who believe that a penalty was imposed improperly. The following penalties are eligible for waiver under this rule:
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the 5% penalty for failure to file a report or return by the due date;
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the 5% penalty for failure to pay a tax by the due date;
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the additional 20% penalty for failure to file a report or return within three months after the due date;
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the additional 25% penalty for failure to file a report or return more than three months after the due date and the taxpayer receives a Notice of Determination and Assessment; and
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the 100% penalty for failure to file three consecutive reports or returns by the due date of the third year.
A waiver request is timely filed if the Department receives it any time before the tax, penalty, and interest are paid in full, or up to one year after the tax, penalty, and interest are paid in full. In order to qualify for the waiver, the taxpayer must:
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make a written request explaining the reason for the failure to file or failure to pay the tax;
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pay the balance of the account, other than an amount equal to the penalty amount that may be waived, for the tax period for which the waiver is requested; and
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meet all filing requirements for the tax program that assessed the penalty.
The Department will waive any penalty listed above for any tax program if there are circumstances beyond the taxpayer's control that caused the failure to file or pay, and if the circumstances existed at the time the return or payment was due.
OAR 150-305.145(4), Oregon Department of Revenue, effective July 31, 2007.