Report Title:

General Excise Tax; Estimated Payments; Annual Return

 

Description:

Amends the general excise tax return filing and payment procedures to require periodic estimated payments and one annual return.

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1449

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO GENERAL EXCISE TAX.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  Section 237-30, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§237-30  Monthly, quarterly, or semiannual [return,] estimated payments and computation of tax[, payment]; annual return.  (a)  Payment of tax by estimated payment.  The taxes levied hereunder shall be payable in monthly installments in the form of an estimated payment to be made on the form required by the director on or before the [last] fifteenth day of the calendar month following the month in which they accrue.  The taxpayer shall, on or before the [last] fifteenth day of the calendar month following the month in which the taxes accrue, make out and sign [a return] an estimated payment voucher of the installment of tax for which the taxpayer is liable for the preceding month and transmit the same, together with a remittance, in the form required by section 237-31, for the amount of the tax, to the office of the department of taxation in the appropriate district hereinafter designated.

     (b)  Payment of taxes on periodic bases other than monthly; annual reconciliation return for all taxpayers.  Notwithstanding subsection (a), the director of taxation, for good cause, may permit a taxpayer to file the taxpayer's [return] voucher required under this section and make payments thereon:

     (1)  On a quarterly basis during the calendar or fiscal year, the [return] voucher and payment to be made on or before the [last] fifteenth day of the calendar month after the close of each quarter, to wit:  for calendar year taxpayers, on or before April [30,] 15, July [31,] 15, October [31,] 15, and January [31] 15 or, for fiscal year taxpayers, on or before the [last] fifteenth day of the fourth month, seventh month, and tenth month following the beginning of the fiscal year and on or before the last day of the month following the close of the fiscal year; provided that the director is satisfied that the grant of the permit will not unduly jeopardize the collection of the taxes due thereon and the taxpayer's total tax liability for the calendar or fiscal year under this chapter will not exceed [$4,000;] _______; or

     (2)  On a semiannual basis during the calendar or fiscal year, the [return] voucher and payment to be made on or before the [last] fifteenth day of the calendar month after the close of each six-month period, to wit: for calendar year taxpayers, on July [31] 15 and January [31] 15 or, for fiscal year taxpayers, on or before the [last] fifteenth day of the seventh month following the beginning of the fiscal year and on or before the [last] fifteenth day of the month following the close of the fiscal year; provided that the director is satisfied that the grant of the permit will not unduly jeopardize the collection of the taxes due thereon and the taxpayer's total tax liability for the calendar or fiscal year under this chapter will not exceed [$2,000.] ______.

     [The director, for good cause, may permit a taxpayer to make monthly payments based on the taxpayer's estimated quarterly or semiannual liability, provided the taxpayer files a reconciliation return at the end of each quarter or at the end of each six-month period during the calendar or fiscal year, as provided in this section.]  Every taxpayer required to make estimated tax payments by voucher on or before the fifteenth day of the fourth month following the close of the taxpayer's taxable year, shall file a reconciliation return reflecting information required by the director, including the amount of gross receipts or gross income earned for each period for which a periodic estimated payment is required to be made.

     (c)  Revocation of periodic permit.  If a taxpayer filing the taxpayer's estimated payment or return [on a quarterly or semiannual basis,] as provided in this section, becomes delinquent in either the filing of the taxpayer's return or the payment of the taxes due thereon, or if the liability of a taxpayer, who possesses a permit to file the taxpayer's [return] voucher and to make payments on a semiannual basis exceeds [$2,000] ______ in general excise taxes during the calendar year or exceeds [$4,000] ______ in general excise taxes during the calendar year if making payments on a quarterly basis, or if the director determines that any such quarterly or semiannual filing of [return] a voucher and payment would unduly jeopardize the proper administration of this chapter, including the assessment or collection of the general excise tax, the director may, at any time, revoke a taxpayer's permit, in which case the taxpayer will then be required to file the taxpayer's [return] voucher and make payments thereon as herein provided in subsection (a).

     (d)  Rules.  The director may adopt [and promulgate] rules [and regulations] to carry out the purposes of this section.

     (e)  [Section 232-2 does not apply to a monthly return.]  Penalties.  In the case of any underpayment of estimated tax, except as provided by this subsection, there shall be added to the tax for the taxable year an amount determined at the rate of two-thirds of one per cent a month or fraction of a month upon the amount of the underpayment for the period of the underpayment.

     (1)  The amount of the underpayment shall be the excess of:

         (A)  The required installment over; or

         (B)  The amount, if any, of the installment paid on or before the due date for the installment.

     (2)  The period of the underpayment shall run from the due date for the installment to whichever of the following dates is the earlier:

         (A)  The fifteenth day of the fourth month following the close of the taxable year; or

         (B)  With respect to any portion of the underpayment, the date on which the portion is paid.  For purposes of this paragraph, a payment of estimated tax on any installment date shall be credited against unpaid required installments in the order in which the installments are required to be paid.

     (3)  For the purposes of this section, the term "tax" means the tax imposed under this chapter.

     (4)  Sections 6654(d), (e)(2), (e)(3), (h), (i), (j), (k), and (l), (with respect to failure by an individual to pay estimated income tax), and 6655(d), (e), (g)(2), (g)(3), (g)(4), and (i) (with respect to failure by a corporation to pay estimated income tax) of the Internal Revenue Code, as of the date set forth in section 235-2.3(a), shall be operative for the purposes of this section and applied where relevant for purposes of the general excise tax; provided that the due dates contained in any of the preceding Internal Revenue Code sections shall be deemed to be the fifteenth day of the applicable month; and provided further that, for purposes of this chapter in applying section 6654(d), the required annual payment shall be the lesser of sixty per cent of the tax shown on the return for the taxable year (or, if no return is filed, sixty per cent of the tax for the taxable year) or one hundred per cent of the tax shown on the return of the individual for the preceding taxable year."

SECTION 2.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2009.