A. Failure to obtain certificate. A seller or, in the case of raw fish products, a buyer, who is obliged to obtain a certificate of registration but fails to do so after written notice within the time prescribed herein is subject to civil penalty of five times the amount of any tax due. A seller, or, in the case of raw fish products, a buyer, who, after notice, continues to conduct business without obtaining a certificate is subject to a penalty of 10 times the amount of any tax due.
B. Penalty and interest. A collector who fails to file a return as required under this chapter or who fails to remit all the taxes due the city by the collector shall pay a penalty of five percent of the taxes due if no return is filed and five percent of the delinquency if a return is filed. The penalty shall be imposed for each month or part of a month during which the delinquency or failure to file exists up to a maximum of 25 percent. The filing of an incomplete return shall be treated as the filing of no return. Interest at the rate of 12 percent per annum shall be paid on all amounts due the city that are not received by the city as required under this chapter except, interest does not accrue on penalties.
C. Falsification. Falsification or knowing misrepresentation of any record required hereunder is a misdemeanor and subjects the person making such falsification or misrepresentation to a penalty of 100 times any tax due or lost because of such falsification or misrepresentation to a maximum of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00).
D. Failure to separately state the tax. A seller who fails to separately state the tax due in any sales transaction shall be subject to a penalty equal to the amount collected as a tax.
E. Inspection. The failure of a seller, or, in the case of a buyer of raw fish products, a buyer, to allow the inspection at reasonable times of records required by this chapter to be kept subjects the seller, or in the case of raw fish products, the buyer, to a penalty of three times any deficiency found or estimated to have occurred by the city in the tax accounting of the seller, or in the case of raw fish products, the buyer.
F. Forced filing. If a collector under this chapter fails to file a complete and accurate return or to pay over all the taxes due as required by this chapter, the mayor may make an estimate of the taxes due based upon any information available. The mayor shall file a return for such collector and shall provide a copy of the return to the collector with a request that the collector file a correct return along with payment of the taxes due. The mayor may require the collector filing the return to provide sufficient information to support the corrected return. If the collector has not filed a corrected return satisfactory to the mayor, along with the taxes due, within 30 days of the date of mailing of the forced filing, the amount shown on the forced filing is presumed correct and becomes delinquent; provided, if upon a subsequent audit or inspection of the records of the collector it is determined that a greater amount was due, the collector shall be liable for payment of such additional amount. A forced filing may be made if the city is unable to ascertain the tax due to be remitted by a collector by reason of the failure of the collector to keep accurate records or allow inspections or the falsification of records.
G. Loss of records. A seller or, in the case of raw fish products, the buyer, shall immediately notify the city of any fire, theft, or other casualty which would prevent his complying with this chapter. Such casualty constitutes a defense to any penalty provided in this chapter, but does not excuse the seller from liability for taxes due. Accidental loss of funds or records is not a defense hereunder.
H. Maintenance of suits. Nothing in this section shall prevent the city from filing and maintaining an action to collect any taxes collected or which should have been collected in addition to any penalty assessed.
I. Severability clause. If any provision or provisions of this ordinance are declared invalid including, but not limited to, any provisions imposing a tax on a particular transaction or transactions, or exempting a particular transaction or transactions from a tax, the remainder of the ordinance shall continue in effect.
(Ord. 77-01 (part), 1977; Ord. 81-04 § 1 (part), 1981; Ord. 89-02 §§ 13, 14, 1989)