House panel advances bill to extend Idaho tax filing deadline, reduce penalties

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted Feb. 24 to send House Bill 92 to the full House with a "do pass" recommendation, advancing a package of changes that would lengthen Idaho’s automatic tax-filing extension and reduce penalties and interest for late payments.

Representative Jeff Ehlers, R‑Meridian, told the committee that HB 92 "is a taxpayer friendly bill" that, among other provisions, "increases the amount of time from an automatic extension for filing your state taxes, from 6 months to 7 months from the original due date," provides certain military service members a 12‑month automatic extension, eliminates the penalty when a taxpayer owes less than $50 and lowers the interest on past‑due payments from 2% to 1%. He noted the bill does not change payment due dates.

Matthew Grow, a CPA in Boise and member of the Idaho Society of CPAs tax committee, testified the bill would align state practice more closely with federal automatic extensions and reduce unexpected penalties. Grow described the current Idaho approach as one that can invalidate state extensions after filing if a taxpayer did not prepay a specified portion of tax: "Let's just let them have the extension. We'll figure out penalties and all of that as we need to, but let's at least get an automatic extension so we can get that behind us. Don't have the surprises for Idaho taxpayers."

Mark Winn, vice president of tax for Lamb Weston and a representative of Idaho tax practitioner groups, called the additional month "a big deal," saying the extra time would relieve substantial administrative burdens for large corporate filers and practitioners. An emailed submission from Frederick J. Nicely, senior tax counsel for the Council on State Taxation, urged passage on similar grounds, saying the change "will allow corporate taxpayers to file more accurate corporate income tax returns with the state" and reduce amended returns.

Representative Monks moved to send HB 92 to the House floor with a due pass recommendation. The committee approved the motion by voice vote; the transcript records the motion carried after the ayes and nays were called but does not list a roll-call tally.

Clarifying details discussed during testimony included that the bill does not alter tax payment due dates, that the military extension is 12 months, and that the penalty change eliminates penalties on amounts under $50. Committee members did not propose amendments on the record during the hearing.

The committee will send the bill to the full House for further consideration.