- Jurisdiction
- California
I file lodging tax for a hotel. The city ordinance states it must be received by last business day of the month. I have USPS tracking that shows it was delivered to the PO Box and available for pickup at 10:55am on the last business day of the month, but not actually picked up until the 1st. The city is saying it was picked up on the 1st, meaning it is late and is charging over $5k in penalties.
I explained the issue to the tax collector and they mentioned it must be in their office, not the PO Box. It was available for pickup with enough time for them to go pick it up but the tax collector didn't want to hear anything and claimed it was late since it wasn't in her hand by 5pm on the 28th of June.
As it was available for pickup in their PO Box by 10:55 am on the last day, June 28th, is there anything else I can do? I can file an appeal, but that would mean flying out there to dispute the charges. Does flying out there for a hearing appeal case seem unreasonable or since it was available in the PO Box, does that sound like a possible win?
I explained the issue to the tax collector and they mentioned it must be in their office, not the PO Box. It was available for pickup with enough time for them to go pick it up but the tax collector didn't want to hear anything and claimed it was late since it wasn't in her hand by 5pm on the 28th of June.
As it was available for pickup in their PO Box by 10:55 am on the last day, June 28th, is there anything else I can do? I can file an appeal, but that would mean flying out there to dispute the charges. Does flying out there for a hearing appeal case seem unreasonable or since it was available in the PO Box, does that sound like a possible win?