Renewable energy owners would face penalties for late tax filings or payments

Renewable energy facility owners would face a penalty for late reports, unpaid taxes, or underpaid taxes. The rule covers owners of renewable energy generation facilities subject to the nameplate capacity tax. The penalty would be five percent of the amount due for each quarter the report or payment remains overdue. The penalty could not exceed ten thousand dollars. The penalty would be collected by the Tax Commissioner beginning January 1, 2027.

The Department of Revenue would send most nameplate-capacity tax proceeds to the county where a facility is located, and the county treasurer would distribute them among specified local recipients. The proceeds include the nameplate-capacity tax, related interest, and penalties from renewable energy facilities. Five percent would go to the facility's community college area, and the remaining revenue would go to eligible local taxing entities. The Department of Revenue would retain three percent for administering the nameplate-capacity tax laws. Eligible local taxing entities would include those that otherwise would have received personal-property tax revenue from covered renewable-energy equipment. An entity would remain eligible when the equipment's book value reaches zero, but eligibility would end after all covered exempt equipment is disposed of. The Department of Revenue and counties could not retain the revenue for the General Fund or for administering these tax laws. The Department of Revenue would pay the remaining proceeds to the county treasurer within thirty days after receiving them.