OAR 150-305-0066: Discretionary Waiver of Interest

(1) General Policy. The department does not generally waive interest because interest represents a charge for the use of money. (2) Interest may be waived for good and sufficient cause upon request of the taxpayer as required in OAR 150-305-0068 section (4). (a) The department will waive interest charges if the department determines the taxpayer did not have the use of the money on which the interest is charged. Example 1: Sue mailed her Oregon tax payment to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by mistake. The IRS cashed the check and six months later sent the money back to Sue as an overpayment. Two months later, Sue mailed payment to the department. The department will waive interest for the six-month period that Sue did not have use of the money. (b) The department will waive interest imposed for failure to pay state tax on or before the due date if the taxpayer: (A) Files an Oregon tax return on or before the due date of the return, excluding extensions; (B) Submits the Oregon tax return in the same transmission as a federal tax return, using a department-approved alternative to filing a paper return; (C) Pays any federal tax shown as due on the transmitted federal return on or before the due date using an electronic form of payment such as a credit card, debit card, or electronic funds transfer (ACH Debit); (D) Pays any tax shown as due on the Oregon return within 30 days of the date shown on the Notice of Assessment sent to the taxpayer; (E) Establishes to the department's satisfaction that failure to pay Oregon tax was due to a good faith, mistaken belief of the taxpayer that the state tax had been paid; and (F) Has not received relief under this subsection before. (c) The waiver of interest provided by subsection (2)(b) of this rule applies only to interest otherwise imposed on unpaid tax and does not include interest imposed on the underpayment of estimated tax. (3) When interest will not be waived. (a) The department will not waive interest on a deficiency resulting from changes made to Oregon tax based on any adjustments reported by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or another state’s taxing authority, regardless of the time lapse between completion of the IRS or another state’s taxing authority adjustment and the completion of the Oregon audit report. ORS 314.380 and 314.410 require a taxpayer to report to the department a change in the taxpayer's net income as defined under OAR 150-314-0160 resulting from an adjustment by the IRS or another taxing authority. (b) The department will not waive interest to the extent the taxpayer earned interest on the money from another taxing authority. Example 2: Don mailed his Oregon tax payment with his Idaho return by mistake. Idaho cashed the check and three months later refunded the $1,000 plus $25 of interest. One month later, Don mailed his payment to Oregon and requested a waiver of Oregon's interest charge of $35. The department will waive $10, which is the excess of interest charged over what Don received from Idaho. (c) The department will not waive interest on underpayment of tax when the taxpayer requests that a refund shown on a delinquent return be applied to a later tax year. ORS 316.583 requires that a refund from a delinquent return that is applied to the next tax year is credited as an estimated payment as of the date the delinquent return was filed. Example 3: Scott files his 2010 return on February 19, 2012 and requests that his tax year 2010 refund be applied to his tax year 2011 tentative tax. His 2010 tax return was due April 18, 2011. Because he filed his return late, the refund is credited as an estimated payment on February 19, 2012. The interest charged on the underpayment of 2011 estimated tax will not be waived because ORS 316.583 requires that the payment be credited as of the date the delinquent return is filed.