Sec. 12-452. Penalties for wilful violations concerning payment of tax or filing returns or other documents. Claim for refund. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 12-452. Penalties for wilful violations concerning payment of tax or filing returns or other documents. Claim for refund. (a) Any person required under this chapter to pay any tax, or required under this chapter or by regulations adopted in accordance with the provisions of section 12-449 to make a return, keep any records or supply any information, who wilfully fails to pay such tax, make such return, keep such records, or supply such information, at the time required by law or regulations, shall, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year or both. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 54-193, no person shall be prosecuted for a violation of the provisions of this subsection committed on or after July 1, 1997, except within three years next after such violation has been committed. As used in this section, person includes any officer or employee of a corporation or a member or employee of a partnership under a duty to pay such tax, to make such return, keep such records or supply such information.

      (b) Any person who wilfully delivers or discloses to the commissioner or his authorized agent any list, return, account, statement, or other document, known by him to be fraudulent or false in any material matter, shall, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, be fined not more than five thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than five years nor less than one year or both. No person shall be charged with an offense under both subsections (a) and (b) of this section in relation to the same tax period but such person may be charged and prosecuted for both such offenses upon the same information.

      (c) (1) Any person believing that he has overpaid any tax due under the provisions of this chapter may file, in writing, a claim for refund with the commissioner within three years from the due date for which such overpayment was made, stating the specific grounds upon which the claim is founded. Failure to file a claim within the time prescribed in this subsection constitutes a waiver of any demand against the state on account of such overpayment. Not later than ninety days following receipt of such claim for refund, the commissioner shall determine whether such claim is valid and, if so determined the commissioner shall notify the State Comptroller of the amount of such refund and the State Comptroller shall draw an order on the State Treasurer in the amount thereof for payment to the claimant. If the commissioner determines that such claim is not valid, either in whole or in part, he shall mail notice of the proposed disallowance in whole or in part of the claim to the claimant, which notice shall set forth briefly the commissioner's findings of fact and the basis of disallowance in each case decided in whole or in part adversely to the claimant. Sixty days after the date on which it is mailed, a notice of proposed disallowance shall constitute a final disallowance except only for such amounts as to which the claimant has filed, as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection, a written protest with the commissioner.

      (2) On or before the sixtieth day after the mailing of the proposed disallowance, the claimant may file with the commissioner a written protest against the proposed disallowance in which the claimant sets forth the grounds on which the protest is based. If the protest is filed, the commissioner shall reconsider the proposed disallowance and, if the claimant has so requested, may grant or deny the claimant or the claimant's authorized representatives an oral hearing.

      (3) The commissioner shall mail notice of his determination to the claimant, which notice shall set forth briefly the commissioner's findings of fact and the basis of decision in each case decided in whole or in part adversely to the claimant.

      (4) The action of the commissioner on the claimant's protest shall be final upon the expiration of one month from the date on which he mails notice of his action to the claimant unless within such period the claimant seeks judicial review of the commissioner's determination pursuant to section 12-448.

      (1949 Rev., S. 4343; 1971, P.A. 871, S. 82; P.A. 88-314, S. 32, 54; P.A. 97-203, S. 7, 20; 97-243, S. 57, 67.)

      History: 1971 act substituted false statement penalty for perjury punishment; P.A. 88-314 deleted the entire section concerning violations of the provisions of this chapter with intent to defraud the state or evade the tax, substituting in lieu thereof a restatement of such violations and penalties in which a penalty is provided for wilful failure to pay such tax or make a return or wilful delivery of a return or other document known to be false, effective July 1, 1988, and applicable to any tax which first becomes due and payable on or after said date, to any return or report due on or after said date, or in the case of any ongoing obligation imposed in accordance with said act, to the tax period next beginning on or after said date; P.A. 97-203 amended Subsec. (a) to extend to three years the time within which persons wilfully failing to file tax returns or pay taxes may be criminally prosecuted; effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 97-243 added new Subsec. (c) to provide for an administrative hearing with the department before taking an appeal to the Superior Court, establish the time for filing a claim and provide that failure to file within the time prescribed constitutes a waiver of any demand against the state on account of overpayment, effective July 1, 1997, and applicable to claims for refund filed on or after said date.

      See note to Sec. 12-433.