Delivery date in PO Box

G

Grogall

New Member
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?
 
How about telling us what city ordinance you are talking about or at least the city.

I think you would have a pretty good argument but without reading the actual ordinance it is hard to tell.
 
You'll have to post the exact wording of the ordinance buy my guess is that "received" means in the hands of the person receiving it.

In the future get the building address and get it signed for when it comes in the door.
 
It's for Anaheim CA - Transient Occupancy Taxes
I couldn't post the link, but below is the ordinance on Due Dates remittance

2.12.030 REPORTING AND REMITTING.
.010 Each operator shall, on or before the close of City business on the last City business day of each month (hereinafter "due date"), file a return with the License Collector on forms provided by the License Collector stating the total rents charged and the amount of tax collected during the immediately preceding calendar month. The full amount of the tax (minus any authorized credits) shall be remitted to the License Collector.
.020 Taxes are paid only upon receipt of both the tax return and the tax by License Collector. Failure of the operator to submit and the License Collector to receive both the completed return and payment on or before the due date constitutes non-payment.


Thank you
 
Is the PO box listed on the form as the location for remittance? If yes, and if you have proof (as you say) that the item arrived at the PO box on time, then your filing was timely. You may need to go up the chain of command.
 
Zigner said:
Is the PO box listed on the form as the location for remittance? If yes, and if you have proof (as you say) that the item arrived at the PO box on time, then your filing was timely. You may need to go up the chain of command.
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Yes - They list both the PO box and the office. The office is stated as for overnight/express delivery only.

upload_2019-7-3_11-19-55.png
 
As I said, if you can prove that it was received at their PO box on time, then the filing was timely. Escalate this, if needed.
 
Grogall said:
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?
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The hotel must be located in the locality that is imposing the tax, so why would you need to fly anywhere?

In any event, I agree with Zigner that delivery to the PO box on or before the due date complies with the ordinance..
 
I don't see why you should need to travel to address this.
You might wait until you actually receive a bill, but at this point ALL of your communicating should be done in writing. Stop with the phone calls.
Any response you receive should be in writing. If you receive a phone call then request a response in writing.
 
Everyone, thank you so much for the replies.
I'll only proceed with getting everything in writing and will go up the chain of command regarding the returns being in the PO Box timely.
 
PayrollHRGuy said:
The hotel must be in the locality but there is nothing that says the owner/person mailing the tax report has to be in the locality.
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Indeed. That's why I asked. Unfortunately, the OP didn't respond to that inquiry.

By the way, if, in fact, that is the situation, then the OP probably should be directing this issue to -- or at least consulting with -- in-house legal.
 
Sorry gang, "received by the License Collector" means just that. The PO Box is NOT the License Collector. I wish OP luck arguing the contrary.
 
mightymoose said:
Hmm.... I wonder why the license collector failed to collect the mail that day.
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Shouldn't make any difference. Besides, someone else may have collected it along with all the other incoming mail and brought it all to the mail room to be distributed to the addressees. Even that could take another day.
 
Hmm... I suspect the date on the post office delivery receipt to the required address will suffice. That does seem the most common practice.
It is an argument worth making considering the penalty involved.
 
adjusterjack said:
Sorry gang, "received by the License Collector" means just that. The PO Box is NOT the License Collector. I wish OP luck arguing the contrary.
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Seems like Anaheim has themselves a nice little revenue stream then. Post a PO Box as a payment address and then only check it after the due date of the tax.
 
mightymoose said:
Hmm.... I wonder why the license collector failed to collect the mail that day.
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You don't know that the collector didn't pick up the mail there that day, but before the post office put the OP's mail in it. I routinely pick up my mail from the box in the building in the morning; sometimes the carrier arrives that day before my pick up, other times the carrier delivers it in the afternoon instead. It just depends on which carrier is delivering it that day. Regardless, I only check it once a day. The license collector could well operate much the same way and pick it up only once a day, and that may well occur before the post office puts that day's mail in it.
 

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