Sec. 12-293a. Reporting requirements. Registration fee for vending machines. List of customers.

      Sec. 12-293a. Reporting requirements. Registration fee for vending machines. List of customers. (a) Each licensed distributor and dealer shall file with the Commissioner of Revenue Services, on or before the twenty-fifth day of each month, a report for the calendar month immediately preceding in such form and containing such information as the commissioner may prescribe. The return shall be accompanied by a payment of the amount of the tax shown to be due thereon. The commissioner by regulation may exempt from the monthly reporting requirements of this section those distributors and dealers who do not acquire unstamped cigarettes and in lieu thereof may require an annual report, prescribed as to form by the Commissioner of Revenue Services and bearing notice to the effect that false statements made in such report are punishable, if, in the commissioner's discretion, the enforcement of this chapter would not be adversely affected.

      (b) Each licensed distributor or dealer who owns or operates cigarette vending machines shall file a report with the Commissioner of Revenue Services, at such time and in such form as the commissioner may prescribe.

      (c) If any person fails to pay the amount of tax reported due on its report within the time specified under this section, there shall be imposed a penalty equal to ten per cent of such amount due and unpaid, or fifty dollars, whichever is greater. No person shall be subject to a penalty under both this section and subsection (b) of section 12-309. Such amount shall bear interest at the rate of one per cent per month or fraction thereof, from the due date of such tax until the date of payment.

      (d) Subject to the provisions of section 12-3a, the commissioner may waive all or part of the penalties provided under this chapter when it is proven to his satisfaction that the failure to pay any tax was due to reasonable cause and was not intentional or due to neglect.

      (1967, P.A. 788, S. 6; P.A. 77-614, S. 139, 610; P.A. 79-18, S. 1, 2; P.A. 82-172, S. 5, 14; P.A. 84-525, S. 4, 8; P.A. 88-314, S. 15, 54; P.A. 93-15, S. 5, 9; P.A. 95-26, S. 9, 52; P.A. 00-174, S. 57, 83; P.A. 04-201, S. 8; P.A. 05-260, S. 3.)

      History: P.A. 77-614 substituted commissioner of revenue services for tax commissioner, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 79-18 required monthly report from operators of more than five machines, rather than from operators of two or more machines as previously and required semiannual report from operators of five or fewer machines and substituted "period for which a report is filed" for "month" in provision re registration fee for newly acquired machines; P.A. 82-172 added the penalty of $50 for failure to file reports with the commissioner when required, which penalty replaced the previous requirement of $5 for each day any such report is overdue and eliminated provision allowing waiver of penalty by commissioner under certain conditions; P.A. 84-525 included the provision permitting the commissioner to require, by regulation, the annual reporting and monthly updating of a customers list; P.A. 88-314 required with reference to the monthly report to be filed by such distributor and dealer that the report is to be accompanied by the amount of tax due thereon and added provisions related to the penalty and interest for failure to pay the tax within the time specified, including the rate of interest to be added and the period during which interest shall run, 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. 93-15 deleted references to a vending machine dealer's license and changed date of report from the tenth day of the month to the twenty-fifth day of the month, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-26 divided section into Subsecs. (a) to (e) and amended Subsec. (d) to lower interest rate from 1.25% to $1%, effective July 1, 1995, and applicable to taxes due and owing on or after July 1, 1995, whether or not those taxes first became due before said date; P.A. 00-174 amended Subsec. (a) to delete a reference to affidavit, to add provisions re prescribed form and false statements, and to make technical changes for purposes of gender neutrality, effective July 1, 2000; P.A. 04-201 deleted former Subsec. (c) re authorization to adopt regulations and redesignated existing Subsecs. (d) and (e) as new Subsecs. (c) and (d), effective June 3, 2004; P.A. 05-260 amended Subsec. (b) to make report applicable to any licensed distributor or dealer, regardless of number of vending machines owned or operated, and to allow commissioner to prescribe time and form of report, effective July 13, 2005.