Tax Type
Individual Income Tax
Description
Statute of limitations; Refund
Topic
Payment and Refund
Statute of Limitations
Date Issued
04-26-1993
April 26, 1993
Re: Request for Ruling: Individual Income Tax
Dear***********
This will reply to your letter of December 10, 1992 in which you seek clarification of the department's denial for a refund of individual income taxes paid by your client, ************** (the "Taxpayer"), for taxable years 1987 and 1988.
FACTS
The Taxpayer, a resident of another state, had been filing nonresident tax returns with the state since the early 1980s. Recently the Taxpayer contacted the department's Taxpayer Assistance Unit and determined that she should never have filed nonresident tax returns. Accordingly, the Taxpayer was issued refunds for taxable years 1989 through 1991. Upon inquiry as to why the Taxpayer did not receive refunds for taxable years prior to 1989, you were informed that the statute of limitations had run and thus the Taxpayer was not entitled to a refund for such years. You are now seeking a refund for taxable years 1987 and 1988.
RULING
Va. Code §58.1-1823 specifically limits the time in which a claim for refund of taxes may be filed to "within three years from the last day prescribed by law for the timely filing of the return." Further, opinions of the Attorney General have stated that even if tax is collected based on an erroneous assessment, a taxpayer's claim for refund must be brought within this statutory period. [1986-1987 Report of the Att'y Gen. at 319 )(copy enclosed)]
Accordingly, while I sympathize with the Taxpayer's situation, without the statutory authority to issue refunds after the time prescribed by law, I find no basis for issuing a refund for taxable years 1987 and 1988.
Sincerely,
W. H. Forst
Tax Commissioner
OTP/6619H
Rulings of the Tax Commissioner