{"id":131454,"date":"2024-06-05T20:22:57","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T00:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=131454"},"modified":"2024-06-05T20:22:57","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T00:22:57","slug":"treasurer-stacy-garrity-praises-senate-for-bipartisan-passage-of-legislation-to-reform-state-tax-appeals-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=131454","title":{"rendered":"Treasurer Stacy Garrity Praises Senate for Bipartisan Passage of Legislation to Reform State Tax Appeals Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pro-taxpayer legislation will authorize BF&R to create independent settlement process<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Harrisburg, PA\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity applauded the Senate for its bipartisan approval of\u00a0Senate Bill 1051<\/a>\u00a0yesterday, pro-taxpayer legislation sponsored by Sen. Scott Hutchinson (R-21) to streamline and improve the process of resolving tax disputes with the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (DOR).<\/p>\n

SB 1051 will allow the Board of Finance and Revenue (BF&R) to accept late-filed applications in certain circumstances and to create a new independent, mediated settlement process for taxpayers as an alternative to the formal and lengthy court appeals process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current tax appeal process tends to be bureaucratic, cumbersome and inflexible,\u201d Treasurer Garrity said. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge burden on too many individuals and businesses with legitimate tax appeals \u2013 we need to improve this process. Sen. Hutchinson\u2019s legislation will create an even playing field for Pennsylvania taxpayers, and it will help tax issues get resolved more quickly. I applaud the Senate for approving this commonsense, taxpayer-friendly legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy colleagues and I have found that, sometimes, the Department of Revenue can get a little overzealous when interpreting applicable tax law,\u201d Sen. Hutchinson said. \u201cSenate Bill 1051 gives taxpayers a little more time and some options when responding to assessments by the Department, while also benefiting our Commonwealth by resolving tax issues sooner and allowing tax liabilities to be collected more quickly. Plain and simple, SB 1051 is a taxpayer protection proposal that makes a complicated system clearer, simpler and taxpayer-friendly \u2013 it\u2019s a win-win for all parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

SB 1051 is supported by numerous organizations, including the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, the NFIB, the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA), and the Pennsylvania Society of Enrolled Agents. A companion bill,\u00a0House Bill 1994<\/a>, was introduced by Rep. Tim Briggs (D-29).<\/p>\n

Currently, taxpayers who disagree with a final decision made by DOR have a 60-day deadline to appeal the decision to BF&R. That often leads to cases being dismissed on a technicality rather than being decided on their merits. SB 1051 will allow BF&R to accept late-filed applications if good cause is shown by the taxpayer and neither party would be prejudiced.<\/p>\n

The bill also empowers BF&R to create an independent settlement process, which will allow more tax disputes to be resolved without a final Board decision \u2013 thus reducing litigation costs for taxpayers. Under current law, BF&R has no authority to direct a mediated settlement process. Treasury estimates that up to 500 cases annually could be resolved under this process.<\/p>\n

BF&R receives approximately 4,200 appeals annually. The Board must resolve each appeal within six months of its filing, absent an extension request; otherwise, the underlying DOR decision is upheld. Currently, only about 13 percent of eligible appeals are resolved through settlement prior to an appeal before the Commonwealth Court.<\/p>\n

BF&R is an independent administrative tax tribunal, administered by the State Treasurer, responsible for the second and final level of administrative appeal (with minor exceptions) before appealing to court. The Board consists of three members \u2013 two are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate; the third is the State Treasurer or her designee and serves as Chair.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nSamantha Heckel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pro-taxpayer legislation will authorize BF&R to create independent settlement process\u00a0 Harrisburg, PA\u00a0\u2014 Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity applauded the Senate for its bipartisan approval of\u00a0Senate Bill 1051\u00a0yesterday, pro-taxpayer legislation sponsored by … Continue reading Treasurer Stacy Garrity Praises Senate for Bipartisan Passage of Legislation to Reform State Tax Appeals Process<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Pennsylvania-Treasury.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=131454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/120734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=131454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=131454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=131454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}