When property tax returns are due and what happens if you don't file

Whenever the director finds that the filing of returns under this section is advisable for the making of assessments and so orders, the director shall give, to the taxpayers during the month of December, of the year such order is made, public notice (by publication thereof, in English, at least three times on different days during the month, in a newspaper of general circulation in the County of Hawai‘i, published in the English language) requiring such taxpayers to file with the director, on or before January 15 of the succeeding year, returns in the manner and form required by this section. After such publication of notice, every person owning, or having possession, custody or control of, real property whether entitled to exemption or not, shall during the month of January, file upon forms prescribed by the director and in the manner required by such forms, a return signed as provided in section 19-13 setting forth the description and location of all real property belonging to such person or of which such person had possession, custody or control on January 1, and setting forth the taxpayer’s opinion of the market value thereof as of January 1. It shall be sufficient to describe the taxpayer’s real property by setting forth the location and a brief description in sufficient detail to identify the real property. REAL PROPERTY TAXES § 19-12 Whenever the director shall determine that there are not sufficient evidences of value to form the basis of a sound appraisal, for assessment purposes, of the value of the real property or real properties or portions thereof, of any taxpayer it may, upon notice of not less than thirty days, require the taxpayer to file a return as described in the foregoing paragraph. All returns made under this section shall be open to inspection by the public, unless protected from disclosure by the provisions of the Uniform Information Practices Act, and shall be admissible in evidence against the person making the return, in any State court in any action wherein the value of the real property, or portion thereof, covered by the return may be in dispute. Returns made under this section shall be taken into consideration by the director in making appraisals for assessment purposes; the opinion of any taxpayer as to market value shall not be binding upon the director but no taxpayer shall be deemed to be aggrieved by any assessment made to the taxpayer’s property which is based upon the opinion of value set forth in the taxpayer’s return unless the taxpayer shows lack of uniformity or inequality as set forth in section 19-93. The opinion of value shall constitute a rebuttable presumption that the market value of the real property on the date of the return was not greater than the value stated in such return in any subsequent proceeding brought to condemn the property or any part thereof for public purposes. Failure to file a return required under this section, shall render the taxpayer liable for payment of an added tax as follows: In case of failure to file any tax return required to be filed on a day described therefor (determined with regard to any extension of time for filing), unless it is shown that the failure is due to reasonable cause and not due to neglect, there shall be added to the amount required to be shown as tax on the return, five percent of the amount of the tax if the failure is for not more than one month, with an additional five percent for each additional month or fraction thereof during which the failure continues, not exceeding twenty-five percent in the aggregate. For the purposes of this section, the amount of tax required to be shown on the return shall be reduced by the amount of any part of a tax which was paid on or before the date prescribed for payment of the tax and by the amount of any credit against the tax which may be claimed upon the return.