(a) An annual return with respect to the income tax levied by a municipal corporation shall be completed and filed by every taxpayer for any taxable year for which the taxpayer is liable for the tax. If the total credit allowed against the tax as described in R.C. § 718.04(D) for the year is equal to or exceeds the tax imposed by the municipal corporation, no return shall be required unless the municipal ordinance or resolution levying the tax requires the filing of a return in such circumstances.
(b) If an individual is deceased, any return or notice required of that individual shall be completed and filed by that decedent’s executor, administrator or other person charged with the property of that decedent.
(c) If an individual is unable to complete and file a return or notice required by a municipal corporation in accordance with this chapter, the return or notice required of that individual shall be completed and filed by the individual’s duly authorized agent, guardian, conservator, fiduciary or other person charged with the care of the person or property of that individual.
(d) Returns or notices required of an estate or a trust shall be completed and filed by the fiduciary of the estate or trust.
(e) No municipal corporation shall deny spouses the ability to file a joint return.
(f) (1) Each return required to be filed under this section shall contain the signature of the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s duly authorized agent and of the person who prepared the return for the taxpayer, and shall include the taxpayer’s Social Security number or taxpayer identification number. Each return shall be verified by a declaration under penalty of perjury.
(2) A Tax Administrator may require a taxpayer who is an individual to include, with each annual return, amended return or request for refund required under this section, copies of only the following documents: all of the taxpayer’s Internal Revenue Service form W-2, “Wage and Tax Statements”, including all information reported on the taxpayer’s federal W-2, as well as taxable wages reported or withheld for any municipal corporation; the taxpayer’s Internal Revenue Service form 1040 or, in the case of a return or request required by a qualified municipal corporation, state form IT-1040; and, with respect to an amended tax return or refund request, any other documentation necessary to support the refund request or the adjustments made in the amended return. An individual taxpayer who files the annual return required by this section electronically is not required to provide paper copies of any of the foregoing to the Tax Administrator unless the Tax Administrator requests such copies after the return has been filed.
(3) A. A Tax Administrator may require a taxpayer that is not an individual to include, with each annual net profit return, amended net profit return or request for refund required under this section, copies of only the following documents: the taxpayer’s Internal Revenue Service form 1041, form 1065, form 1120, form 1120-REIT, form 1120F or form 1120S, and, with respect to an amended tax return or refund request, any other documentation necessary to support the refund request or the adjustments made in the amended return.
B. A taxpayer that is not an individual and that files an annual net profit return electronically through the state business gateway or in some other manner shall either mail the documents required under this division (f)(3) to the Tax Administrator at the time of filing or, if electronic submission is available, submit the documents electronically through the state business gateway. The Department of Taxation shall publish a method of electronically submitting the documents required under this division through the state business gateway on or before January 1, 2016. The Department shall transmit all documents submitted electronically under this division to the appropriate Tax Administrator.
(4) After a taxpayer files a tax return, the Tax Administrator may request, and the taxpayer shall provide, any information, statements or documents required by the municipal corporation to determine and verify the taxpayer’s municipal income tax liability. The requirements imposed under this division (f) apply regardless of whether the taxpayer files on a generic form or on a form prescribed by the Tax Administrator.
(g) (1) A. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, each individual income tax return required to be filed under this section shall be completed and filed as required by the Tax Administrator on or before the date prescribed for the filing of state individual income tax returns under R.C. § 5747.08(G). The taxpayer shall complete and file the return or notice on forms prescribed by the Tax Administrator or on generic forms, together with remittance made payable to the municipal corporation or Tax Administrator. No remittance is required if the amount shown to be due is $10 or less. A municipal corporation shall not require a qualifying employee whose income consists exclusively of exempt income described in R.C. § 718.01(C)(20)(b) or (C)(20)(c) to file a return under this section.
B. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, each annual net profit return required to be filed under this section by a taxpayer that is not an individual shall be completed and filed as required by the Tax Administrator on or before the fifteenth day of the fourth month following the end of the taxpayer’s taxable year. The taxpayer shall complete and file the return or notice on forms prescribed by the Tax Administrator or on generic forms, together with remittance made payable to the municipal corporation or Tax Administrator. No remittance is required if the amount shown to be due is $10 or less.
(2) A. Any taxpayer that has duly requested an automatic six-month extension for filing the taxpayer’s federal income tax return shall automatically receive an extension for the filing of a municipal income tax return. The extended due date of the municipal income tax return shall be the fifteenth day of the tenth month after the last day of the taxable year to which the return relates.
B. A taxpayer that has not requested or received a six-month extension for filing the taxpayer’s federal income tax return may request that the Tax Administrator grant the taxpayer a six-month extension of the date for filing the taxpayer’s municipal income tax return. If the request is received by the Tax Administrator on or before the date the municipal income tax return is due, the Tax Administrator shall grant the taxpayer’s requested extension.
C. An extension of time to file under this division (g)(2) is not an extension of the time to pay any tax due unless the Tax Administrator grants an extension of that date.
(3) If the Tax Commissioner extends for all taxpayers the date for filing state income tax returns under R.C. § 5747.08(G), a taxpayer shall automatically receive an extension for the filing of a municipal income tax return. The extended due date of the municipal income tax return shall be the same as the extended due date of the state income tax return.
(4) If the Tax Administrator considers it necessary in order to ensure the payment of the tax imposed by the municipal corporation in accordance with this chapter, the Tax Administrator may require taxpayers to file returns and make payments otherwise than as provided in this section, including taxpayers not otherwise required to file annual returns.
(5) To the extent that any provision in this division conflicts with any provision in R.C. § 718.052, the provision in that section prevails.
(h) (1) For taxable years beginning after 2015, a municipal corporation shall not require a taxpayer to remit tax with respect to net profits if the amount due is less than $10.
(2) Except as provided in division (h)(3) below, any taxpayer not required to remit tax to a municipal corporation for a taxable year pursuant to division (h)(1) above shall file with the municipal corporation an annual net profit return under division (f)(3) above.
(3) A municipal corporation shall not require a person to file a net profit return under this section if the person’s income consists exclusively of exempt income described in R.C. § 718.01(C)(20)(a).
(i) (1) If any report, claim, statement or other document required to be filed, or any payment required to be made, within a prescribed period or on or before a prescribed date under this chapter is delivered after that period or that date by United States mail to the Tax Administrator or other municipal official with which the report, claim, statement or other document is required to be filed, or to which the payment is required to be made, the date of the postmark stamped on the cover in which the report, claim, statement or other document, or payment is mailed shall be deemed to be the date of delivery or the date of payment.
THE DATE OF POSTMARK means, in the event there is more than one date on the cover, the earliest date imprinted on the cover by the postal service.
(2) If a payment under this chapter is made by electronic funds transfer, the payment shall be considered to be made on the date of the timestamp assigned by the first electronic system receiving that payment.
(j) The amounts withheld by an employer, the agent of an employer or another payer as described in R.C. § 718.03 shall be allowed to the recipient of the compensation as credits against payment of the tax imposed on the recipient by the municipal corporation, unless the amounts withheld were not remitted to the municipal corporation and the recipient colluded with the employer, agent or other payer in connection with the failure to remit the amounts withheld.
(k) Each return required by a municipal corporation to be filed in accordance with this section shall include a box that the taxpayer may check to authorize another person, including a tax return preparer who prepared the return, to communicate with the Tax Administrator about matters pertaining to the return. The return or instructions accompanying the return shall indicate that by checking the box the taxpayer authorizes the Tax Administrator to contact the preparer or other person concerning questions that arise during the examination or other review of the return and authorizes the preparer or other person only to provide the Tax Administrator with information that is missing from the return, to contact the Tax Administrator for information about the examination or other review of the return or the status of the taxpayer’s refund or payments and to respond to notices about mathematical errors, offsets or return preparation that the taxpayer has received from the Tax Administrator and has shown to the preparer or other person.
(l) The Tax Administrator of a municipal corporation shall accept for filing a generic form of any income tax return, report or document required by the municipal corporation in accordance with this chapter, provided that the generic form, once completed and filed, contains all of the information required by ordinance, resolution or rules adopted by the municipal corporation or Tax Administrator, and provided that the taxpayer or tax return preparer filing the generic form otherwise complies with the provisions of this chapter and of the municipal corporation ordinance or resolution governing the filing of returns, reports or documents.
(m) When income tax returns, reports or other documents require the signature of a tax return preparer, the Tax Administrator shall accept a facsimile of such a signature in lieu of a manual signature.
(n) (1) As used in this division,
WORKSITE LOCATION has the same meaning as in R.C. § 718.011.
(2) A person may notify a Tax Administrator that the person does not expect to be a taxpayer with respect to the municipal corporation for a taxable year if both of the following conditions apply.
A. The person was required to file a tax return with the municipal corporation for the immediately preceding taxable year because the person performed services at a worksite location within that municipal corporation.
B. 1. The person no longer provides services in the municipal corporation and does not expect to be subject to the municipal corporation’s income tax for the taxable year.
2. The person shall provide the notice in a signed affidavit that briefly explains the person’s circumstances, including the location of the previous worksite location and the last date on which the person performed services or made any sales within the municipal corporation. The affidavit also shall include the following statement: “The affiant has no plans to perform any services within the municipal corporation, make any sales in the municipal corporation or otherwise become subject to the tax levied by the municipal corporation during the taxable year. If the affiant does become subject to the tax levied by the municipal corporation for the taxable year, the affiant agrees to be considered a taxpayer and to properly register as a taxpayer with the municipal corporation if such a registration is required by the municipal corporation’s resolutions, ordinances or rules.” The person shall sign the affidavit under penalty of perjury.
C. If a person submits an affidavit described in this division (n)(2), the Tax Administrator shall not require the person to file any tax return for the taxable year unless the Tax Administrator possesses information that conflicts with the affidavit or if the circumstances described in the affidavit change. Nothing in this division (n) prohibits the Tax Administrator from performing an audit of the person.
(R.C. § 718.05) (Ord. 873, passed 12-17-2019)