(a) Due date for taxes—Delinquencies. Taxes collected from a service user are delinquent if not received by the Tax Administrator on or before the due date. Should the due date occur on a weekend or legal holiday, the return must be received by the Tax Administrator on the first regular working day following the weekend or legal holiday. A direct deposit, including electronic fund transfers and other similar methods of electronically exchanging monies between financial accounts, made by a service supplier in satisfaction of its obligations under this subsection, shall be considered timely if the transfer is initiated on or before the due date, and the transfer settles into the City's account on the following business day.
(b) Failure to collect or remit. If the person required to collect and/or remit a tax imposed pursuant to this chapter fails to collect the tax (by failing to properly assess the tax on one or more services or charges on the customer's billing) or fails to remit the tax collected on or before the due date, the Tax Administrator shall attach a penalty for such delinquencies or deficiencies at the rate of 15% of the total tax that is delinquent or deficient in the remittance, and shall charge simple interest at the rate of 9% per year, or any fraction thereof, on the amount of the tax, exclusive of penalties, from the date on which the remittance first became delinquent, until paid.
(c) Penalties for fraud or gross negligence in reporting or remitting. The Tax Administrator shall have the power to impose additional penalties upon persons required to collect and remit taxes pursuant to the provisions of this chapter for fraud or gross negligence in reporting or remitting at the additional rate of 15% of the amount of the tax collected and/or required to be remitted, or as recomputed by the Tax Administrator.
(d) Penalties due as tax. For collection purposes only, every penalty imposed and such interest that is accrued under the provisions of this section shall become a part of the tax herein required to be paid.
(e) Authority to modify due dates. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Tax Administrator may, in his or her discretion, modify the due dates of this chapter to be consistent with any uniform standards or procedures that are mutually agreed upon by other public agencies imposing a utility user's tax, or otherwise legally established, to create a central payment location or mechanism.
(Ord. 177, passed 11-6-2018)