512. Penalties and interest. 1. (a) Any person failing to file a return or to pay any tax within the time required by or pursuant to this article (determined with regard to any extension of time for filing or paying) shall be subject to a penalty of ten per centum of the amount of tax determined to be due as provided in this article plus one per centum of such amount for each month or fraction thereof during which such failure continues after the expiration of the first month after such return was required to be filed or such tax became due, not exceeding thirty per centum in the aggregate. Provided, however, that any person who fails to file any return required by this article within sixty days of the date prescribed for filing of such return (determined with regard to any extension of time for filing) shall be subject to a penalty which shall not be less than the lesser of one hundred dollars or one hundred per centum of the amount required to be shown as tax on such return. For the purpose of the preceding sentence, the amount of tax required to be shown on the return shall be reduced by the amount of any part of the tax which is paid on or before the date prescribed for payment of the tax and by the amount of any credit against the tax which may be claimed upon the return.
(b) If any amount of tax is not paid on or before the last date prescribed in this article for payment, interest on such amount at the underpayment rate set by the commissioner of taxation and finance pursuant to subdivision twenty-sixth of section one hundred seventy-one of this chapter shall be paid for the period from such last date to the date paid, whether or not any extension of time for payment was granted. Interest under this paragraph shall not be paid if the amount thereof is less than one dollar.
(c) If the tax commission determines that such failure or delay was due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, it shall remit all or part of such penalty. The tax commission shall promulgate rules and regulations as to what constitutes reasonable cause.
(d) If the failure to pay any tax within the time required by or pursuant to this article is due to fraud, in lieu of the penalties and interest provided for in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdivision, there shall be added to the tax (i) a penalty of two times the amount of tax due, plus (ii) interest on such unpaid tax at the underpayment rate set by the commissioner of taxation and finance pursuant to subdivision twenty-sixth of section one hundred seventy-one of this chapter for the period beginning on the last day prescribed by this article for the payment of such tax (determined without regard to any extension of time for paying) and ending on the day on which such tax is paid.
(e) In addition to any other penalty imposed by this chapter, any person who fails to obtain a certificate of registration or decal as required under this article shall, after due notice and an opportunity for a hearing, for a first violation be liable for a civil fine not less than five hundred dollars but not to exceed two thousand dollars and for a second or subsequent violation within three years following a prior finding of violation be liable for a civil fine not less than one thousand dollars but not to exceed three thousand five hundred dollars.
(f) The penalties and interest imposed by this subdivision shall be assessed, collected and paid in the same manner as the taxes imposed by this article. Interest under this subdivision shall be compounded daily.
2. For purposes of this chapter the failure to do any act required by or under the provisions of this article shall be deemed an act committed in part at the office of the department of taxation and finance in Albany. For purposes of this chapter, the certificate of the tax commission to the effect that a tax has not been paid, that a return has not been filed, or that information has not been supplied, as required by or under the provisions of this article, or that a claim for refund has been filed, shall be prima facie evidence that such tax has not been paid, that such return has not been filed, that such information has not been supplied, or that such claim has been filed.
3. Violations of this article may be prosecuted by the attorney general in the name of the people of the state, in which case the attorney general shall exercise all the powers and perform all the duties which the district attorney would otherwise be authorized to exercise or to perform therein.
4. Cross-reference: For criminal penalties and other offenses, see article thirty-seven of this chapter.
Last modified: February 3, 2019