Request By:
Mr. Larry J. Crigler
Boone County Attorney
P.O. Box 114
Burlington, Kentucky 41005
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Alex W. Rose, Assistant Attorney General
In your letter to the Attorney General, you ask whether the county's levy of penalty and interest for late payment of taxes is proper. Section V(e) of Ordinance No. 19 of the Boone County Fiscal Court states that all license fees not paid when due must draw interest and be assessed a penalty.
You present a situation in which a company withheld taxes and was required to remit those taxes to the county on or before January 31, 1982, a Sunday. The company mailed a check for the taxes with a postmark date of February 1, 1982. You ask whether this payment should be considered late.
In your letter you mention the policies of the Internal Revenue Service and the Kentucky Revenue Cabinet. While not necessarily binding on the county, such policies are helpful in the consideration of this question. The Internal Revenue Code in Section 7503 states that if the due date for a return, etc., falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the due date is extended to the next succeeding day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. The Kentucky Revenue Cabinet, pursuant to KRS 141.050, follows this policy.
KRS 446.030 states that if any proceeding is directed by law to take place on a particular day and that day is a Sunday, then the act must be done on the next day that is not a legal holiday. In OAG 69-263, this statute was held applicable to a city ordinance.
It is, therefore, our opinion that the payment of the taxes on February 1, 1982 was not late.
Furthermore, it is also our opinion that mailing the taxes on February 1, 1982, as evidenced by the postmark, was sufficient. This, too, is consistent with the Internal Revenue Service and Kentucky Revenue Cabinet policies. See Internal Revenue Code Section 7502.