Title 14, Taxation

[§231-36.5] Understatement of taxpayer's liability by tax return preparer. (a) A tax return preparer who understates a person's tax liability based upon unreasonable positions on a tax return or claim for tax refund shall pay a penalty of $500 with respect to each such tax return…

[§231-36.6] Substantial understatements or misstatements of amounts; penalty. (a) There shall be added to the tax an amount equal to twenty per cent of the portion of any underpayment that is attributable to any substantial understatement of any tax in a taxable year. The penalty…

[§231-36.7] Promoting abusive tax shelters. (a) A person promotes an abusive tax shelter by: (b) A person found promoting an abusive tax shelter shall pay, with respect to each activity described in subsection (a), a penalty of $1,000 or, if the person establishes that the abusiv…

§231-36.8 Erroneous claim for refund or credit. (a) If a claim for refund or credit with respect to tax is made for an excessive amount, the person making the claim shall be liable for a penalty in an amount equal to twenty per cent of the excessive amount; provided that there sh…

§231-37 Neglect of duty, etc., misdemeanor. Any officer of the department of taxation, the state director of finance, any person duly authorized by the director of taxation, or any police officer, on whom duties are imposed under this chapter, who wilfully fails or refuses or neg…

§231-39 Additions to taxes for noncompliance or evasion; interest on underpayments and overpayments. (a) Except as otherwise provided, this section shall apply to every tax or revenue law of the State that provides for the filing with the director of taxation of a return or state…

§231-4 Assessing officers eligible to appointment as collecting officers and vice versa. Appointees to offices or positions in the department of taxation for the assessing of taxes shall be eligible for appointment to offices or positions in the department for the collection of t…

[§231-4.3] Investigators; appointment and powers. The director may appoint and commission one or more investigators as the exigencies of the public service may require. Persons appointed and commissioned under this section shall have and may exercise all of the powers and authori…

§231-4.5 Administrative rules officer; specialists; appointment and duties. The director of taxation may appoint an administrative rules officer, and administrative rules specialists as necessary to assist the administrative rules officer. The administrative rules officer shall d…

§231-40 Interpretation. Sections 231-34, 231-35, 231-36, and 231-36.4 shall be construed in accordance with judicial interpretations given to similar provisions of title 26 of the United States Code; consistent therewith, the term "wilfully" shall mean a voluntary, intentional vi…

[§231-40.5] Statute of limitations; extension for substantial omissions. (a) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary limiting the time for assessment of any tax, if a taxpayer omits an amount of: properly includable therein that is in excess of twenty-five per cent of the a…

§231-41 Statute of limitation for criminal penalties. Notwithstanding any laws to the contrary, prosecutions under sections 231-34, 231-35, 231-36, and 231-36.4 shall be commenced within seven years after the commission of the offense. [L 1995, c 92, pt of §2; am L 2009, c 166, §…

§231-5 Deceased officers, duties of personal representatives, etc. The personal representatives of any deceased officer of the department of taxation, and all other persons into whose hands any tax lists, or records, papers, documents, or books, or taxes, may come, shall deliver …

RECOVERY OF MONEY OWED TO THE STATE §231-51 Purpose. The purpose of sections 231-52 to 231-59 is to permit the retention of state income tax refunds of those persons who owe a debt to the State, who are delinquent in the payment of child support pursuant to section 576D-1, who ha…

§231-52 Definitions. As used in sections 231-51 to 231-59, unless the context otherwise requires: "Claimant agency" includes any state agency, board, commission, department, institution, the judiciary, or other state organization, or any subdivision thereof. In the case of delinq…

§231-53 Setoff against refund. The State, through the department of accounting and general services or the department of taxation, upon request of a claimant agency, shall set off any valid debt due and owing a claimant agency by the debtor against any debtor's refund. Any amount…

§231-54 Hearings; appeals. At the time a setoff is identified, the debtor shall be notified by the comptroller or the director of taxation of the State's intention to apply the debtor's debt against the refund. The notice shall state that the debtor within thirty days may request…

[§231-55] Finalization of setoff; credit on debt. Upon completion of the hearing and appeal process set out in section 231-54, or upon the debtor's failure to timely request a hearing pursuant to that section, the setoff shall become final. The amount of the setoff after deductio…

[§231-56] Charges for setoff; credit to agency. The State may charge the claimant agency for the cost of the setoff; provided that the charges shall not exceed the proceeds of the collection. The State may designate a single percentage to be retained from the proceeds of the seto…

[§231-57] Apportionment of joint refunds. In the case of a setoff against a joint income tax refund, the State may make separate refunds of withheld taxes upon request by a husband or wife who has filed the joint return. The refund payable to each spouse shall be proportioned to …

§231-57.5 Notification of address and social security number of debtor parent. The department of accounting and general services or the department of taxation shall notify the child support enforcement agency of the address and social security number of each debtor who has been s…

[§231-58] Rules. All state agencies may adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 for carrying out the purposes of sections 231-51 to 231-59. [L 1982, c 199, pt of §1]

§231-59 Procedure additional. The setoff procedure authorized by sections 231-53 to 231-57.5 is in addition to and not in substitution of any other remedy available by law. [L 1982, c 199, pt of §1; am L 2017, c 12, §35]

§231-6 Oath, power to administer. The department of taxation may administer all oaths or affirmations required to be taken or be administered under chapters of the law under title 14 administered by the department, with respect to any matters coming within the scope of the duties…

LIENS, FORECLOSURE [§231-61] Tax liens; co-owners' rights. (a) If a cotenancy exists and within the period of a tax lien, all of the taxes, interest, penalties, and other additions to the tax, due and delinquent at the time of payment, are paid by a cotenant, the cotenant shall h…

§231-62 Tax liens; foreclosure; property. (a) Upon enforcement or foreclosure by the State, in any manner whatsoever, of any state tax lien on real property, all state taxes of whatsoever nature and howsoever accruing and due at the time of the foreclosure sale from the taxpayer …

[§231-63] Tax liens; foreclosure without suit, notice. All real property on which a lien for state taxes exists may be sold by way of foreclosure without suit by the state tax collector, and in case any lien, or any part thereof, has existed thereon for three years, shall be sold…

[§231-64] Tax liens; registered land. If the land has been registered in the land court, the state tax collector shall also send by registered mail a notice of the proposed sale to any person holding a mortgage or other lien registered in the office of the assistant registrar of …

[§231-65] Tax liens; notice, form of. The notice of sale shall contain the names of the persons assessed, the names of the present owners (so far as shown by the records of the tax office and the records, if any, in the office of the assistant registrar of the land court), the ch…

[§231-66] Tax liens; postponement of sale, etc. If at the time appointed for the sale the state tax collector deems it expedient and for the interest of all persons concerned therein to postpone the sale of any property or properties for want of purchasers, or for other sufficien…

[§231-67] Tax liens; tax deed; redemption. The state tax collector or the state tax collector's assistant, on payment of the purchase price, shall make, execute, and deliver all proper conveyances necessary in the premises and the delivery of the conveyances shall vest in the pur…

[§231-68] Tax liens; costs. The director of taxation by rule may prescribe a schedule of costs, expenses, and charges and the manner in which they shall be apportioned between the various properties offered for sale and the time at which each cost, expense, or charge is deemed to…

[§231-69] Tax deed as evidence. The tax deed referred to in section 231-67 is prima facie evidence that:

§231-7 Audits, investigations, hearings, and subpoenas. (a) The director of taxation, and any representative of the director duly authorized by the director, may conduct any civil audit or criminal investigation, investigation, or hearing, relating to any tax, assessment, or coll…

§231-7.5 Expedited appeals and dispute resolution program. (a) The department shall be authorized to implement an administrative appeals and dispute resolution program that shall expeditiously resolve all tax, penalty, interest, fine, assessment, and other such disputes between t…

[§231-70] Disposition of surplus moneys. (a) The officer charged with the duty of distributing the surplus arising from a tax sale under sections 231-63 to 231-68 shall pay from the surplus all state taxes, including interest and penalties, of whatsoever nature and howsoever accr…

§231-8 Timely mailing treated as timely filing and paying. (a) Any report, claim, tax return, statement, or other document required or authorized to be filed with or any payment made to the State which is: (b) If any report, claim, tax return, statement, remittance, or other docu…

§231-8.5 Electronic filing of tax returns. (a) The department may allow filing by electronic, telephonic, or optical means of any tax return, application, report, or other document required under the provisions of title 14 administered by the department. (b) If the requirements o…

CIVIL COMPLIANCE; SPECIAL ENFORCEMENT SECTION §231-81 Special enforcement section; created. (a) There is created within the department of taxation the special enforcement section to carry out civil enforcement efforts as directed by the director of taxation. The director may staf…

§231-82 Special enforcement section; functions, powers, and duties. The special enforcement section shall have the following functions, powers, and duties:

[§231-83] Investigators and personnel, appointment and power. (a) The director of taxation may appoint, commission, or detail to the special enforcement section one or more persons as investigators, investigator assistants, and other support staff as the exigencies of the public …

[§231-84] Right to inspection of books, records, and premises; warrants and writs; levy and seizure. (a) Upon presenting credentials, the special enforcement section may examine any books, papers, records, and any article or item of business transacted of any person engaged in bu…

[§231-85] Identification of cash economy cases; retention of funds. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, each fiscal year, the special enforcement section may identify any taxpayer, assessment, investigation, or collection matter as a matter of the special enforcement section…

[§231-86] Violent interference with a tax official. Any person who interferes, hinders, obstructs, prevents, or impedes any investigator or employee of the department with violence or threat of violence, shall be guilty of a class C felony and, upon conviction, shall be subject t…

§231-9 Tax collection; general duties, powers of director; dollar rounding. (a) The director of taxation shall collect all taxes according to the assessments. The director of taxation shall duly and accurately account to the director of finance for the collection and the amount o…

[§231-9.2] Offers in compromise. (a) Requests for compromises authorized under section 231-3 shall be submitted to the department and accompanied by the following: (b) Where an offer in compromise is not accepted by the department for any reason, payments made under subsection (a…

[§231-9.3 Tax collection; mainland contractors working on federal construction projects.] The director of taxation shall develop a system to determine when contractors from the United States mainland are present in Hawaii to work on federal projects, including the starting and an…

[§231-9.4 Credit or debit card remittances.] In addition to sections 237-31, 237D-6.5, and 251-5, as well as any other form of payment allowed under provisions of title 14 administered by the department, the director, by rules adopted pursuant to chapter 91, may permit the use of…

[§231-9.5] Assessment of additional taxes of corporations or partnerships. Additional taxes of a corporation or partnership shall be assessed to it under its corporate or firm name. [L 1989, c 14, §1(2)]

[§231-9.6] Fiduciaries, liability. Every personal representative, trustee, guardian, or other fiduciary shall be answerable as such for the performance of all acts, matters, or things as are required to be done in respect to the assessment of the taxes for which the fiduciary is …