(A) CONSUMER: REFUND OF TAX PAID.
(1) An application for tax refund may be filed by any consumer where:
(a) The consumer believes the sale to be excepted or exempt from taxation; and
(b) The consumer has paid the sales tax levied by the City at the time of the sale; and
(c) The consumer files the application with the City within one (1) year of the date of the sale on a form prescribed by the City containing the names of the seller and the consumer, the items purchased, the date, the price, the amount of tax paid, and a brief statement of the claim of exemption. A copy of the invoice or sales receipt must be attached to the refund application.
(2) This subsection does not apply to refund claims based upon the consumer’s status as a senior citizen.
(B) COLLECTOR: OVER PAYMENT REFUND. If a collector has remitted sales tax in excess of what is due to the City, the collector may apply to the City for a refund within one (1) year of the date the overpayment was made. The City shall audit the collector’s account and may request any additional information the City requires to determine that a refund is due. If the City determines that a refund is due, the collector may take a credit on the next sales tax report, or the City shall pay the refund of the tax paid with interest at three and one-half percent (3.5%) per annum beginning thirty (30) days from the date of payment of the tax to the City. A claim for refund not filed within one (1) year of the date the tax was remitted to the City is forever barred. A collector may claim a refund only where the collector has filed a timely sales tax return and therewith remitted the sales taxes due under that return. This section does not apply to claims for exemptions for sale for resale for which any refund claim should be made pursuant to § 6.40.050(A). Interest will not be paid on any tax refund.
(C) SENIOR CITIZEN REFUND. Natural persons of at least sixty- five (65) years of age on or before March 31 of each year shall be entitled to receive a yearly sales tax refund in the amount of four hundred dollars ($400).
(1) To be eligible for the refund, the consumer must be sixty-five (65) years of age or older by March 31 of each year, be a resident of the City for at least thirty (30) days prior to their application, and file a timely application for refund with the City. The application form may require the consumer-applicant to provide proof of age and of residency, along, with other information reasonably necessary to administer this refund. The claim for refund may be made only by filing a timely application with the City Clerk.
(2) An application for a senior citizen refund must be filed with the City between January 1 and March 31 of each year. Claims for refund filed after March 31 of each year shall be denied.
(3) Any eligible applicant who has a delinquent account of any kind with the City shall not be entitled to receive their refund directly. The City shall, instead, apply the refund to the delinquency. Only once the delinquency is paid may any surplus refund be directed to the eligible recipient.
(4) “Resident of the City,” for the purposes of this subsection, means a person who is physically present in the City with the intent to remain indefinitely in the City and to make a home in the City. The individual must also have maintained a principal place of abode in the City for at least thirty (30) consecutive days immediately preceding the date of application for a refund. A person demonstrates the intent required under this section through establishing and maintaining customary ties indicative of residence in the City and through the absence of those ties elsewhere. Physical presence in the City is not, by itself, sufficient to establish residency.
(5) Applicants shall prove residency in Unalaska by providing to the City Clerk evidence of either current voter registration in the State of Alaska, at an address in Unalaska, or evidence of approved eligibility for the State of Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend for the current year, at an address in Unalaska. At the City Clerk’s discretion, other proof of residency in Unalaska may be accepted.
(D) The City Clerk shall prepare applications for refunds for exempt sales and for senior citizens refunds. Applications shall be available at City Hall. A collector shall provide a consumer with an application for refund where the consumer has paid the tax and desires to request a refund from the City because the consumer believes the sale is exempt, but was not provided an exemption at point of sale.
(Am. Ord. No. 2003-05, passed 5-6-03; Am. Ord. 2004-07, passed 7-27- 04; Am. Ord. 2005-06, passed 2-8-05; Am. Ord. 2016-10, passed 5-24-16; Am. Ord. 2021-05, passed 5-25-21; Am. Ord. 2023-02, passed 4-11-23)