Tax Type
Individual Income Tax
Description
Interest; Late payment of tax
Topic
Collection of Tax
Date Issued
06-03-1996
June 3, 1996
Re: Ruling Request: Individual Income Tax
Dear*****************
This will reply to your letter of January 23, 1996, requesting a ruling on the accrual of interest on the 1993 Virginia income tax assessment of your clients ******** (the "Taxpayers").
FACTS
In 1994, the Taxpayers filed a 1993 return within the requested extension period and paid the balance due. In 1995, the Taxpayers filed an original 1994 return within the requested extension period showing a refund and an amended 1993 return showing a balance due. The Taxpayers requested that a portion of an overpayment on the 1994 return be applied to the tax and interest on the 1993 amended return and that the remaining overpayment on the 1994 return be credited to their 1995 estimated income tax account. Additionally, they requested that the interest on the 1993 tax due be computed from the due date of the return to the original due date of the 1994 return in accordance Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Rev. Rul. 88-97 and § 6601(f) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).
When the department received the 1993 amended return, interest was computed from the original due date of the return to the assessment date. A portion of the 1994 overpayment was applied to the 1993 assessment, a portion of the 1994 overpayment was applied to the 1995 estimated tax account, and the remaining 1994 overpayment was refunded to the Taxpayers with interest. You have returned the Commonwealth's refund check and are, again, requesting that any remaining refund should be credited to the 1995 estimated tax account. You are, additionally, requesting a ruling on the procedures to compute interest on the 1993 tax due.
RULING
There is no provision in Virginia law compatible with the interest computations provided in the IRS Rev. Rul. 88-97. This ruling provides that if any portion of a tax of an earlier year is satisfied by the overpayment of a later year, where the later year's return was filed timely or within the extension period, the interest is computed on the earlier year's return from the due date of the return until the original due date of the later year's return.
Code of Virginia § 58.1-351 provides that:
-
- Interest upon such tax or any unpaid balance of tax . . . shall be added at a rate determined in accordance with 58.1-15, from the date the tax or any unpaid balance of the tax, was originally due until paid. (Emphasis added.)
When a taxpayer, therefore, files an amended return with a balance due, the interest accrues on that balance due from the date the tax was due until the day the balance due is paid. When the balance due of an earlier year's return is paid by the overpayment of a later year's return, the interest is computed on the earlier year's tax due from the original due date of that return to the filing date of the later year's return. It is on the filing date of the later year's return that the overpayment is determined and made available for payment of tax due.
In the instant case, the 1994 return was filed on October 16, 1995, the date that the taxes are determined to be overpaid. As the 1994 overpayment is to be applied to the balance due of the 1993 amended return, the computation of the interest on the 1993 amended return begins with the original due date, May 2, 1994, and ends on the date that the 1994 return was filed, October 16, 1995.
There is no basis in statute, regulation, or prior rulings to compute interest on the Taxpayer's 1993 tax due from the due date of the return to the original due date of the 1994 return. The enclosed schedule indicates the amount of 1994 overpayment that will be applied to the 1993 assessment and the 1995 estimated tax account. The Commonwealth's refund check for********* will be voided. If additional information is needed, please contact *****at ****** .
Sincerely,
Danny M. Payne
Tax Commissioner
OTP/10841N
Rulings of the Tax Commissioner