(a) Penalties for Negligence. If the Tax Collector determines that all or part of any tax required to be reported on any return was underreported and that such underreporting was attributable to negligence, the Tax Collector may impose a penalty in the amount of 5% of the amount of the underreported tax, in addition to the tax or amount of tax, if the negligence is for not more than 1 month, with an additional 5% for each month or fraction of a month during which such negligence continues, up to 20% in the aggregate.
(b) Penalties for Intentional Disregard of Rules, Fraud, or Intent to Evade Tax. When it is determined by the Tax Collector that all or part of any tax required to be reported on any return was underreported and such underreporting was attributable to fraud or an intent to evade the Business and Tax Regulations Code, the Tax Collector may impose a penalty in the amount of 50% of the amount of the underreported tax. The taxpayer or other person determined to be liable for penalties pursuant to this Section 6.17-2(b) is entitled to a notice of deficiency determination or jeopardy determination and to the appeal rights as to such determinations.
(c) Additional Penalty for Substantial Underreporting.
(1) For purposes of this Section 6.17-2(c), “substantial underreporting of tax” means the tax finally determined by the Tax Collector exceeds the amount of tax reported on a taxpayer’s original or amended return for a taxable period by 25% or more, or if no return is filed, the tax liability determined by the Tax Collector pursuant to Section 6.11-1 exceeds $5,000.
(2) If the Tax Collector determines that a taxpayer has made a substantial underreporting of tax for any taxable period, the Tax Collector may impose an additional penalty in an amount equal to 50% of the tax attributable to the substantially underreported amount. The penalty for substantial underreporting is in addition to any other penalty imposed under this Article 6.
(3) The additional penalty for substantial underreporting applies to all taxable periods ending on or after June 19, 2010.
(d) This Section 6.17-2 shall apply as follows:
(1) to all returns and payments for tax periods ending and taxable events occurring on or before December 31, 2020, except as provided in subsections (d)(2) and (d)(3) of this Section 6.17-2;
(2) to all returns and payments for registration years ending on or before June 30, 2021 with respect to the registration fee imposed under Section 855 of Article 12; and
(3) to all returns and payments for fiscal years ending on or before June 30, 2021 with respect to fees, assessments, and other charges subject to this Article 6 that are imposed on a fiscal year basis.
(Added by Ord. 18-98, App. 1/16/98; amended by Ord. 95-99, File No. 990305, App. 4/30/99; Ord. 26-04, File No. 031990, App. 2/19/2004; Ord. 102-10, File No. 100247, App. 5/21/2010; Ord. 291-10, File No. 101099, App. 11/18/2010; Ord. 5-13
, File No. 121064, App. 1/24/2013, Eff. 2/23/2013; Ord. 206-13
, File No. 130784, App. 10/11/2013, Eff. 11/10/2013; Ord. 271-13, File No. 131031, App. 11/27/2013, Eff. 12/27/2013, Oper. 1/1/2014; Ord. 207-20, File No. 200759, App. 10/9/2020, Eff. 11/9/2020; Ord. 152-21, File No. 210828, App. 9/29/2021, Eff. 10/30/2021)