7.70.080 Interest and penalty.
A. Taxes collected from a service user, or owed by a service user subject to Section 7.70.071 of this chapter are delinquent if not received by the tax administrator on or before the due dates provided in this chapter. Should the due date occur on a weekend or legal holiday, the return must be received by the tax administrator on or before the first regular working day following the weekend or legal holiday. A direct deposit, including electronic fund transfers and other similar methods of electronically exchanging monies between financial accounts, made by a service supplier in satisfaction of its obligations under this subsection shall be considered timely if the transfer is initiated on or before the due date, and the transfer settles into the City’ s account on the following business day.
B.
1. Original Delinquency. If the person required to collect and/or remit the utility users’ tax fails to collect the tax (by failing to properly assess the tax on one or more services or charges on the customer’ s billing) or fails to remit the tax collected, or, in the case of a service user that fails to properly self-collect and remit the tax under Section 7.70.071 of this chapter, the tax administrator shall attach a penalty for such delinquencies or deficiencies at the rate of ten percent (10%) of the total tax that is delinquent or deficient in the remittance.
2. Continued Delinquency. Any person who fails to remit any delinquent remittance within a period of thirty days following the date on which the remittance first became delinquent shall pay a second delinquency penalty of ten percent (10%) of the amount of the tax in addition to the amount of the tax and the ten percent penalty first imposed.
3. The tax administrator shall have the power to impose additional penalties upon persons required to collect and/or remit taxes pursuant to the provisions of this chapter for fraud or gross negligence in reporting or remitting at the rate of fifteen percent (15%) of the amount of the tax collected and/or required to be remitted, or as recomputed by the tax administrator.
4. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a person required to collect and/or remit the utility users’ tax shall not be subject to the penalty and interest for an "improper assessment", if such "improper assessment" is voluntarily disclosed to the tax administrator, or its agent, and promptly corrected thereafter by such person, whether the disclosure occurs in the course of a tax administrator survey under Sections 7.70.050(C), 7.70.060(B), 7.70.070(B) or 7.70.075(B), or the disclosure is voluntarily initiated by such person. For purposes of this subsection, the term "voluntarily initiated" shall mean information freely offered by a service supplier to the City for the purpose of increasing the accuracy of the service supplier’ s tax collection and/or remittances before the issue has been raised or an inquiry has been initiated by the City or any other California municipality.
C. Interest. In addition to any other penalties imposed by this chapter, any person required to collect and/or remit any tax imposed by the provisions of this chapter who fails to collect the tax (by failing to properly assess the tax on one or more services or charges on the customer’s billing) or fails to remit the tax collected, or, in the case of a service user that fails to properly self-collect and remit the tax under Section 7.70.071 of this chapter, shall pay interest at the rate of three-quarters of one percent (æ%) per month, or any fraction thereof, on the amount of the tax, exclusive of penalties, from the date on which the remittance first became delinquent, until paid.
D. Notwithstanding subsections (B) and (C) of this section, a person required to collect and/or remit the utility users tax shall not be subject to the penalty and interest for an "improper assessment", if such "improper assessment" is voluntarily disclosed to the tax administrator, or its agent, and promptly corrected thereafter by such person, whether the disclosure occurs in the course of a tax administrator survey under Sections 7.70.050(C), 7.70.060(B), 7.70.070(B) or 7.70.075(B), or the disclosure is voluntarily initiated by such person. For purposes of this subsection, the term "voluntarily initiated" shall mean information freely offered by a service supplier to the City for the purpose of increasing the accuracy of the service supplier’ s tax collection and/or remittances before the issue has been raised or an inquiry has been initiated by the City or any other California municipality. (Ord. 6580-NS § 1, 2000: Ord. 5592-NS § 1 (part), 1984)