The DFBs!
The NJ Division of Taxation once again screws the taxpayer.
As a general rule, the postmark on a filed return or payment sets the “date filed” or “date received”. This is certainly the case with the IRS. If your 1040 is due on April 15th and your return, with payment, is postmarked by midnight on April 15th, then it is treated as received by the IRS on April 15th, even if the Post Office screws up and the envelope doesn’t actually get to the appropriate Service Center until April 25th.
The same applied to the state return. If the NJ-1040, and payment, was postmarked on April 15th it was considered to have been filed on time.
Apparently this is not so with any other payment to the State of New Jersey.
I completed the GD extension for a client on June 5th and mailed the finished returns out immediately, instructing the client in my cover letter to make sure that both the federal and the NJ return, on which there was a balance due, was in the mail by June 15th or earlier.
The NJDOT sent the client a penalty and interest notice, denying the extension (no money was sent with a NJ-630 – only the federal extension was submitted, which should have covered the NJ return) because it failed the 80% test. The notice indicated that the return was received on June 27th, and the client was charged the 5% penalty for 3 months.
I asked the client if he sat on the NJ return, or mailed it by June 15th. He said he did not recall, but could not think of a reason why he would not have sent out the return as soon as it was received.
So I contacted the NJDOT via email and said that if the return had been mailed by June 15th the penalty should only be assessed for 2 months. It was my belief that the postmark “trumped” the date of receipt.
As it turns out the check was dated June 23rd – so the client did indeed not follow my instructions and did sit on it for two weeks.
I emailed the NJDOT person back and thanked them, telling them I would appropriately chastise my client for mailing the return late. While I had her, I asked if the envelope containing the return and payment had actually been postmarked by or before June 15th would the return be treated as having been received on June 15 and not June 27, thus making it only two (2) months late.
She replied, “The correspondence would need to be received by the Division by the specified date.”
So the NJDOT will ignore the postmark on filings and payments made, except for April 15th and, presumably, October 15th.
The DFBs! Another way to nickel and dime the poor overtaxed NJ resident!
Do any of you have any experiences with or comments on this situation?
TAFN
The NJ Division of Taxation once again screws the taxpayer.
As a general rule, the postmark on a filed return or payment sets the “date filed” or “date received”. This is certainly the case with the IRS. If your 1040 is due on April 15th and your return, with payment, is postmarked by midnight on April 15th, then it is treated as received by the IRS on April 15th, even if the Post Office screws up and the envelope doesn’t actually get to the appropriate Service Center until April 25th.
The same applied to the state return. If the NJ-1040, and payment, was postmarked on April 15th it was considered to have been filed on time.
Apparently this is not so with any other payment to the State of New Jersey.
I completed the GD extension for a client on June 5th and mailed the finished returns out immediately, instructing the client in my cover letter to make sure that both the federal and the NJ return, on which there was a balance due, was in the mail by June 15th or earlier.
The NJDOT sent the client a penalty and interest notice, denying the extension (no money was sent with a NJ-630 – only the federal extension was submitted, which should have covered the NJ return) because it failed the 80% test. The notice indicated that the return was received on June 27th, and the client was charged the 5% penalty for 3 months.
I asked the client if he sat on the NJ return, or mailed it by June 15th. He said he did not recall, but could not think of a reason why he would not have sent out the return as soon as it was received.
So I contacted the NJDOT via email and said that if the return had been mailed by June 15th the penalty should only be assessed for 2 months. It was my belief that the postmark “trumped” the date of receipt.
As it turns out the check was dated June 23rd – so the client did indeed not follow my instructions and did sit on it for two weeks.
I emailed the NJDOT person back and thanked them, telling them I would appropriately chastise my client for mailing the return late. While I had her, I asked if the envelope containing the return and payment had actually been postmarked by or before June 15th would the return be treated as having been received on June 15 and not June 27, thus making it only two (2) months late.
She replied, “The correspondence would need to be received by the Division by the specified date.”
So the NJDOT will ignore the postmark on filings and payments made, except for April 15th and, presumably, October 15th.
The DFBs! Another way to nickel and dime the poor overtaxed NJ resident!
Do any of you have any experiences with or comments on this situation?
TAFN
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