HRS § 231-3 — Department, general duties and powers


§231-3 Department, general duties and
powers. The department of taxation shall have the following duties and
powers, in addition to any others prescribed or granted by this chapter:
(1) Assessment: To make any assessment by law
required to be made by the department;
(2) Collections: To be responsible for the
collection of all taxes imposed under title 14, except those which by law are
to be collected by county treasurers, and for such other duties as are provided
by law;
(3) Construction of revenue laws: To construe the
tax and revenue laws, the administration of which is within the scope of the
department's duties, whenever requested by any officer acting under those laws,
or by an interested person;
(4) Enforcement of penalties: To see that penalties
are enforced when prescribed by any tax or revenue law of the State (the
administration of which is within the scope of the department's duties) for
disobedience or evading of its provisions, and to see that complaint is made
against persons violating any such law; in the execution of these powers and
duties the department may call upon the attorney general or any of the attorney
general's deputies, including the county attorneys or public prosecutors, whose
duties it shall be to assist in the institution and conduct of all proceedings
or prosecutions for penalties and forfeitures, liabilities, and punishments for
violation of the laws administered by the department;
(5) Forms: To prescribe forms to be used in or in
connection with any assessment, including forms to be used in the making of
returns by taxpayers or in any other proceedings connected with the assessment,
and to change the same from time to time as deemed necessary;
(6) Inspection, examination of records: To inspect
and examine the records of all public officers without charge, and to examine
the books and papers of account of any person for the purpose of enabling the
department to obtain all information that could in any manner aid the
department in discharging its duties under any tax law;
(7) Recommendations for legislation: To recommend to
the governor any amendments, changes, or modifications of the laws as may seem
proper or necessary to remedy injustice or irregularity in taxation or to
facilitate the assessment of taxes;
(8) Report to governor: To report to the governor
annually, and at such other times and in such manner as the governor may
require, concerning the acts and doings and the administration of the
department, and any other matters of information concerning taxation as may be
deemed of general interest;
(9) Rules: To adopt such rules as the department may
deem proper effectually to carry out the purposes for which the department is
constituted and to regulate matters of procedure by or before the department;
(10) Compromises: With the approval of the governor,
to compromise any claim where the tax exceeds $50,000 (exclusive of penalties
and interest) arising under any tax law the administration of which is within
the scope of the department's duties, and to compromise any tax claim where the
tax is $50,000 or less (exclusive of penalties and interest) without seeking
the approval of the governor; provided that the director shall have the
discretion to seek the approval of the governor to compromise any tax claim
where the director deems it appropriate; and in each case the department shall
post each proposed compromise, as set forth in subparagraphs (A) to (D), on the
department's internet website for five calendar days before the director signs
the compromise, and there shall be placed on file in the department's office a
statement of:
(A) The name of the taxpayer and the amount
and type of tax assessed, or proposed to be assessed;
(B) The amount of penalties and interest
imposed or which could have been imposed by law with respect to the amount of
tax assessed, as computed by the department;
(C) The total amount of liability as
determined by the terms of the compromise, and the actual payments made thereon
with the dates thereof; and
(D) The reasons for the compromise.
Notwithstanding the provisions of any law
making unlawful the disclosure of tax returns or return information, statements
on file and included in the department's internet website in respect of
compromises shall be open to public inspection;
(11) Retroactivity of rulings: To prescribe the
extent, if any, to which any ruling, rule, or construction of the tax laws, of
general application, shall be applied without retroactive effect;
(12) Remission of delinquency penalties and interest:
Except in cases of fraud or wilful violation of the laws or wilful refusal to
make a return setting forth the information required by law (but inclusion in a
return of a claim of nonliability for the tax shall not be deemed a refusal to
make a return), the department may remit any amount of penalties or interest
added, under any law administered by the department, to any tax that is
delinquent, in a case of excusable failure to file a return or pay a tax within
the time required by law, or in a case of uncollectibility of the whole amount
due; and in that case there shall be placed on file in the department's office
a statement showing the name of the person receiving the remission, the
principal amount of the tax, and the year or period involved;
(13) Closing agreements: To enter into an agreement
in writing with any taxpayer or other person relating to the liability of the
taxpayer or other person, under any law the administration of which is within
the scope of the department's duties, in respect of any taxable period, or in
respect of one or more separate items affecting the liability for any taxable
period; the agreement, signed by or on behalf of the taxpayer or other person
concerned, and by or on behalf of the department, shall be final and
conclusive, and except upon a showing of fraud or malfeasance, or
misrepresentation of a material fact:
(A) The matters agreed upon shall not be
reopened, and the agreement shall not be modified, by any officer or employee
of the State; and
(B) In any suit, action, or proceeding, the
agreement, or any determination, assessment, collection, payment, refund, or
credit made in accordance therewith, shall not be annulled, modified, set
aside, or disregarded;
(14) Other powers and duties: In addition to the
powers and duties contained in this chapter, the powers and duties contained in
other chapters of the law under title 14 administered by the department for
levying, assessing, collecting, receiving, and enforcing payments of the tax
imposed thereunder, and otherwise relating thereto, shall be severally and
respectively conferred, granted, practiced, and exercised for levying,
assessing, collecting, receiving, and enforcing payment of the taxes imposed
under the authority of those chapters as far as the provisions are consistent
with the express provisions of those chapters, as fully and effectually to all
intents and purposes as if the same powers and authorities were repeated in
those chapters, with reference to those taxes, and all of the provisions shall
be applied, construed, deemed, and taken to refer to the taxes imposed under
the authority of those chapters, in like manner.