The Village of Middlefield Tax Department is following the federal government and the IRS in extending the deadline for Ohio taxpayers to file and pay individual and school district income tax to May 17, 2021 for tax year 2020. The first quarter estimated payment for tax year 2021 is still due on April 15, 2021.
The Village of Middlefield is taking every possible precaution to protect the health, safety and welfare of its employees and taxpayers while continuing to provide quality and timely tax services to our residents.
COVID -19 presents some increased challenges in our workplace when filing your returns, however you can accomplish this in a non-personal contact environment. In the best interest of public’s health and welfare and our employees, we are continuing to close the tax department, ceasing all in-person tax preparation of Village income tax returns.
The tax department will continue to provide city tax preparation assistance on your behalf when the documents are sent to this address:
Tax Department, Village of Middlefield, 14860 North State Ave., Middlefield, OH 44062
When requesting village tax preparation assistance and to assist with timely filing and payment, you need to submit all forms to the tax department, as stated earlier, during the months of February and March of 2021. This allows the Village to prepare the returns and send a timely billing out to you before the April 15th deadline. This process of sending forms early will allow you to make full payment by April 15, 2021.
Penalties for nonpayment and/or non-filing will be posted to accounts after April 15, 2021.
We thank you for your patience and understanding.
Village of Middlefield
Working at Home – COVID 19
REFUND REQUESTS
INFORMATION January 28, 2021
On March 9, 2020 Governor DeWine issued an Executive Order No. 2020-01-D Declaring a State of Emergency in Ohio Due to the Coronavirus threat.
Why was this executive order and HB197 important? This HB 197 section 29 acted to stabilize income taxes for municipalities and filings for employers.
See link: Copy and Paste.
HTTPS://www.Legislature.ohio.gov/legislation/legislation-summary?id=GA133-HB-197
What it accomplished to date: This allowed employers to continue to withhold for the principal place of work (PP of W) municipality if employees were working at home because of the State of Emergency and kept municipal revenues stable especially for municipalities with a large business vs residential community.
Subsequently:
Ohio House Bill 197 passed in Late March effective March 27, 2020 Containing various COVID-19 Relief items.
See link above for further information.
HB 197 Section 29 states “Notwithstanding section 178.011 of the Ohio Revised Code, and for the purpose of Chapter 718. Of the Revised Code, during the period of emergency declared by Executive Order 2020.01-D, issued March 9, 2020, and for thirty days after the conclusion of that period, any day on which any employee performs personal services at a location, including the employees home, to which an employee is required to report for employment duties because of the declaration, shall be deemed to be a day performing personal services at the employees principal place of work”. The Non-resident has been deemed to have worked in the Village of Middlefield’s municipality and therefore is subject to our Village’s income tax. This section allows the village to deny refunds due to employees working from home. The emergency order is still in effect.
Absent of and prior to the passing of Section 29 of HB 197:
An employee’s home is the employee’s principal place of Business (PPofW) if:
- There is no employer owned or controlled location to which the employee regularly and ordinarily reports to work, and
- The employee does not report to work for more than 20 days per location at one or more temporary work sites (other than the employee’s home) on a regular and ordinary basis, and
- The employee works from home on more days during the calendar year than at any other location.
However: subsequent to HB 197 Section 29 the following occurred Read on:
House Bill 197 Section 29 Litigation filed July 2, 2020:
The Buckeye Institute, et al v. Megan Kilgore, et al, Franklin County Common Pleas Court Case NO 20-CV-004301
The Buckeye Institute and three of its employees filed suit on July 2, 2020 against the City of Columbus City Auditor and the State of Ohio.
The Buckeye Institute is an employer with an office in the City of Columbus.
The Defendants have asked the court to dismiss the case and argue section 29 is not unconstitutional and the General Assembly has the authority to provide for the allocation of municipal tax amongst Ohio municipalities and other items of interest.
If this case is not dismissed, the case is not expected to be heard until July 7, 2021 if not disposed of earlier by other motions.
Also, Both Parties are expected to appeal the decision of this court.
This litigation may or may not answer questions of refunds allowed for those working at home from Emergency declaration Currently due to HB 197 section 29 no refunds have authorization to be issued for stay at home orders.
Another effect of this issue is the effect on net profit filings from businesses with the Village of Middlefield.
Those employers who have employees with payroll deducted from income allocated to the Village of Middlefield, and if, the employees receive a refund from the Village of Middlefield with a PPofW not in the Village of Middlefield, the employer is required to amend the net profits/loss tax return by changing the allocation formula to reduce the amount of payroll expense assigned to the Village of Middlefield.
Also, this will require the employer with employees now working in other communities to file net profit returns in those communities, these adjustments would be necessary to avoid double deductions of payroll expenses, one for the business and second for refunds to employees on taxes paid to the Village of Middlefield.
Annual Interest Rate per (HB5)
2016 Tax Year- 5.0% per annum .42% per month
2017 Tax Year- 6.0% per annum .50% per month
2018 Tax Year- 6.0% per annum .50% per month
2019 Tax Year- 7.0% per annum .583% per month
2020 Tax Year- 7.0% per annum .583% per month
2021 Tax Year- 5.0% per annum .42% per month