ORS 316.177¹
Reliance on withholding statement
  • • penalty for statement without reasonable basis

(1) If an employee does not claim a different number of withholding exemptions for state withholding purposes, the employee shall be entitled to the same number of withholding exemptions as the number of withholding exemptions to which the employee is entitled for federal income tax withholding purposes. If an employee does not claim a different number of withholding exemptions for state withholding purposes, the employer may rely upon the number of federal withholding exemptions claimed by the employee, or authorized or specified under the Internal Revenue Code. If the employee does claim a different number of withholding exemptions for state withholding purposes, the employer shall rely on the number specified on that claim.

(2) If any employee makes a statement for federal income tax withholding purposes which claims more than 10 withholding exemptions, or claims exemption from withholding and the employee’s income is expected to exceed $200 per week for both federal and state purposes, or claims exemption from withholding for state purposes but not for federal purposes, and as of the time the statement was made there was no reasonable basis for the statement, the Department of Revenue shall assess and collect from the employee a penalty of $500.

(3) The penalty imposed under this section is in addition to any other penalty imposed by law. Any employee against whom a penalty is assessed under this section may appeal to the tax court as provided in ORS 305.404 (Oregon Tax Court) to 305.560 (Appeals procedure generally). If the penalty is not paid within 10 days after the order of the tax court becomes final, the department may record the order and collect the amount assessed without interest in the same manner as income tax deficiencies are recorded and collected under ORS 314.430 (Warrant for collection of taxes).

(4) The department may waive all or any part of the penalty imposed under subsection (2) of this section if the income tax liability of the employee for the taxable year is equal to or less than the sum of:

(a) The credits against taxes allowed for purposes of this chapter; and

(b) The payments of estimated tax which are considered payments on account of the tax liability of the employee under ORS 316.579 (Amount of estimated tax to be paid with declaration) and 316.583 (Effect of payment of estimated tax or installment). [1969 c.493 §27; 1987 c.293 §19; 1987 c.843 §20; 1993 c.730 §42; 1995 c.650 §37]

Chapter 316

Notes of Decisions

Unless the divorce decree specifically designates that pay­ments are for child support, pay­ments will be treated as alimony. Henderson v. Dept. of Rev., 5 OTR 153 (1972)

The goal of this chapter is to incorporate all of the pro­vi­sions of the federal Internal Revenue Code; taxable income should be adjusted whenever the result of the adjust­ment is to give effect to the policies or principles of the federal Internal Revenue Code, even though no express authority for the adjust­ment is present in the statutes. Christian v. Dept. of Rev., 269 Or 469, 526 P2d 538 (1974); Smith v. Dept. of Rev., 270 Or 456, 528 P2d 73 (1974)

By its enact­ment of this chapter, the legislature intended to adopt §172 of the federal Internal Revenue Code allowing for the carryback and carryforward of net operating losses. Christian v. Dept. of Rev., 269 Or 469, 526 P2d 538 (1974)

Where plaintiff failed to ap­peal timely as re­quired by this sec­tion, ap­peal rights were not preserved so that cause could be considered on merits. Dela Rosa v. Dept. of Rev., 11 OTR 201 (1989), aff'd 313 Or 284, 832 P2d 1228 (1992)

Where taxpayers paid foreign income taxes on foreign income and claimed foreign taxes paid as federal tax credit and as state business expense deduc­tion, taxpayers who claim federal foreign tax credit are entitled only to foreign tax deduc­tion provided in ORS 316.690 (Foreign income taxes). Whipple v. Dept. of Rev., 309 Or 422, 788 P2d 994 (1990)

For purposes of claim preclusion, all issues re­gard­ing taxpayer's income tax liability for tax year constitute same claim. U.S. Bancorp v. Dept. of Revenue, 15 OTR 13 (1999)

Atty. Gen. Opinions

Political contribu­tions as credit against Oregon tax return, (1974) Vol 37, p 159

Law Review Cita­tions

57 OLR 309 (1978); 16 WLR 373 (1979)

1 Legislative Counsel Committee, CHAPTER 316—Personal Income Tax, https://­www.­oregonlegislature.­gov/­bills_laws/­Archive/­2007ors316.­pdf (2007) (last ac­cessed Feb. 12, 2009).
 
2 Legislative Counsel Committee, Annotations to the Oregon Revised Stat­utes, Cumulative Supplement - 2007, Chapter 316, https://­www.­oregonlegislature.­gov/­bills_laws/­ors/­316ano.­htm (2007) (last ac­cessed Feb. 12, 2009).
 
3 OregonLaws.org assembles these lists by analyzing references between Sections. Each listed item refers back to the current Section in its own text. The result reveals relationships in the code that may not have otherwise been apparent. Currency Information