County Bulletin
TO: All County Auditors
FROM: Shelley Wilson, Executive Administrator, Property
Taxes
DATE: December 12, 2006
RE: Application of Penalties for Filing Late or
Omitting Personal Property
Amended Bulletin No.287
Ohio Revised Code Section (RC) 5711.27 instructs the Tax
Commissioner or County Auditor to add penalties when a
taxpayer files a personal property tax return after the due
date or omits personal property from its return and balance
sheet. Please note that if the return is filed or omitted
property is reported within sixty days of the date the return
was due, Ohio law requires the penalty to equal five percent
of the unreported amount. This bulletin has been revised to
clarify this limitation and to publish the standard the
Department will use to assess late payment penalties for
inter-county filers and to remit late payment penalties for
all taxpayers.
Therefore, the Department establishes the following schedule
for the application of late filing penalties:
(1) When a taxpayer files a return after the due date but
before August 15 of the year for which it is filed, a penalty
equal to five percent of the total taxable value on the
return will be added to the assessment. As previously stated,
if the return is filed or omitted property is reported within
sixty days of the date the return was due, a five percent
penalty is required by statute. However, for ease of
administration, the Department will use the five percent
penalty for all returns filed after the due date but before
August 15 of the filing year.
(2) When a taxpayer files a return after the due date and on
or after August 15 but before October 1 of the year for which
it is filed, a penalty equal to ten percent of the total
taxable value on the return will be added to the assessment.
(3) When a taxpayer files a return after the due date and on
or after October 1 of the year for which it is filed, a
penalty of fifteen percent of the total taxable value will be
added to the assessment.
(4) When a single county taxpayer files a return on time but
fails to pay one-half of the total tax within ten days of the
due date, a penalty of five percent will be added to the
assessment.
(5) When a taxpayer files a return for the current year on
time but files a supplemental return within sixty days of the
due date to include property not included in the initial
filing, a penalty equal to five percent of the additional
value will be added to the assessment. If the amended return
is not filed until after the sixty day period, a penalty
equal to ten percent of the additional value will be added to
the assessment.
(6) When a taxpayer files a new taxpayer return within sixty
days after the due date, a penalty of five percent of the
total taxable value will be added to the assessment. If the
return is filed after the sixty day period, a penalty of
fifteen percent of the total taxable value will be added to
the assessment.
Mailing Assessment Certificates after Application of Penalty
RC 5711.27, RC 5711.28 and RC 5711.31 require that you mail
an assessment certificate to the taxpayer when you add a
penalty for the following reasons: filing late, adding
omitted property to an assessment, or assessing a penalty for
failure to pay one-half of the total tax due within 10 days
of the due date. In cases where a return has been filed or a
preliminary assessment certificate has been issued, an
amended assessment certificate should be issued reflecting
the penalty for failure to pay one-half of the total tax due
within 10 days of the due date, or in the case of omitted
property, the additional value and penalty.
This bulletin replaces Bulletin Number 287 last amended July
3, 2003.