(a) Collection of unpaid taxes.
(1) All taxes imposed by this chapter remaining unpaid when the same have become due, together with all interest and penalties thereon, become a debt due the city from the taxpayer, and are recoverable as other debts in suits instituted by the Director of Law.
(2) Employers who or which, although obligated under this chapter to withhold and remit to the Finance Director the taxes required to be withheld at the source, as set forth in § 880.07(c), shall fail to so withhold and/or remit, become liable to the city in an action in a court of law to enforce the payment of the debt created by the failure.
(3) When a final return is filed as prescribed in § 880.07 and a deficiency is determined to be due to the city, action to collect the same must be brought within three years after the tax was due or the return was filed, whichever is later. However, in the case of fraud, failure to file a return, or the omission of 25% or more of income required to be reported, prosecution may be commenced within six years after the commission of the offense.
(b) Refunds.
(1) Should it appear that any taxpayer has paid more than the amount of the tax to which the city is entitled under the provisions of this chapter, a refund of the amount so overpaid shall be made, provided a proper claim for refund of the overpayment of tax has been filed by the taxpayer, or the same may be applied toward the declaration of tax due for the ensuing year. Claims for refunds shall be made on forms prescribed by and obtainable from the Finance Director, or on a generic form approved by the Finance Director. Refunds for days worked out of the city are available only to nonresidents, and refunds shall be computed by dividing total wages by total days worked in order to determine an average daily wage. The work year shall be considered 260 days. Saturdays and Sundays shall not normally be considered work days. Wage continuation plans of any type, including but not limited to vacation days, holidays, personal days, and sick days, are deemed to be days spent in the city for purposes of a refund calculation. Additions, deletions or other changes to the method for calculating refunds shall be at the discretion of the Finance Director.
(2) All applications for refunds shall be made within three years of the due date of a final return, or three months after the determination of the federal income tax liability, whichever is later. However, the following shall apply regarding refunds of tax withheld from non-qualified deferred compensation plans (NDCP):
A. A taxpayer may be eligible for a refund if the taxpayer has suffered a loss from an NDCP. The loss will be considered sustained only in the taxable year in which the taxpayer receives the final distribution of money and property pursuant to the NDCP. Full loss is sustained if no distribution of money and property will be made by the NDCP.
B. A taxpayer who receives income as a result of payments from an NDCP, and that income is less than the amount of income deferred to the NDCP and upon which municipal tax was withheld, then a refund will be issued on the amount representing the difference between the deferred income that was taxed and the income received from the NDCP. If different tax rates applied to the tax years in which deferrals, a weighted average of the different tax rates will be used to compute the refund amount.
C. Refunds shall be allowed only if the loss is attributable to the bankruptcy of the employer who had established the NDCP, or the employee's failure or inability to satisfy all of the employer's terms and conditions necessary to receive the non-qualified compensation.
(3) Refunds for days worked out of the city are available only to nonresidents, and refunds shall be computed by dividing total wages by total days worked in order to determine an average daily wage. The work year shall be considered 260 days. Saturdays and Sundays shall not normally be considered work days. Wage continuation plans of any type, including but not limited to vacation days, holidays, personal days and sick days, are deemed to be days spent in the city for purposes of the refund calculation. Additions, deletions or other changes to the method for calculating refunds shall be at the discretion of the Finance Director.
(4) No refund will be made for an amount less than $5.
(5) Income tax that has been deposited with the city but should have been deposited with another municipality is allowable by the city as a refund but is subject to the three-year limitation on refunds. Income tax that should have been deposited with the city but was deposited with another municipality shall be subject to recovery by the city. The city will allow a non-refundable credit for any amount owed the city that is in excess of the amount to be refunded by the other municipality, as long as the tax rate of the other municipality is the same or higher than the city's tax rate. If the city's tax rate is higher, the tax representing the net difference of the rates is also subject to collection by the city.
(6) The Finance Director may sue for recovery of an erroneous refund, provided the suit is begun three years after making the refund, except that the suit may be brought within six years if any of the refund was induced by fraud or misrepresentation of material fact.
(c) Application of delinquent payments. Payments received for delinquent liabilities shall first be applied to unpaid penalty and interest assessments, beginning with the oldest year for which they are due, and then shall be applied sequentially to each subsequent year for which penalty and interest delinquencies exist. When penalty and interest delinquencies no longer remain, payments will be applied to delinquent taxes owed for any previous year(s), and will be applied in the order in which the taxes became due.
(Ord. 43-2004, passed 12-20-2004)