1997 Minnesota Statutes

     268.057 Collection of contributions. 

    Subdivision 1.    Reports; delinquencies; penalties.  (a)
 Any employer who knowingly fails to make and submit to the 
 commissioner any contribution report at the time the report is 
 required shall pay to the department a penalty of up to $25 or 
 an amount of 1-1/2 percent of contributions accrued for each 
 month from and after the due date until the report is properly 
 made and submitted, whichever is greater.  

    (b) If any employer required to make and submit 
 contribution reports fails to do so within the time required, or 
 makes, willfully or otherwise, an incorrect, false, or 
 fraudulent contribution report, the employer shall, on the 
 written demand of the commissioner, make the contribution 
 report, or corrected report, within ten days after the mailing 
 of the written demand and at the same time pay the whole 
 contribution, or any additional contribution, due.  If the 
 employer fails within that time to make the report, or corrected 
 report, the commissioner shall make a report, or corrected 
 report, from the commissioner's own knowledge and from 
 information the commissioner may obtain and assess a 
 contribution on that basis, which contribution, plus any 
 penalties and interest shall be paid within ten days after the 
 commissioner has mailed to the employer a written notice of the 
 amount due and demand for payment.  Any contribution report or 
 assessment made by the commissioner on account of the failure of 
 the employer to make a report or corrected report shall be prima 
 facie correct and valid, and the employer shall have the burden 
 of establishing its incorrectness or invalidity in any 
 subsequent action or proceeding.  Whenever the delinquent 
 employer files a report or corrected report, the commissioner 
 may, on finding it substantially correct, substitute it for the 
 commissioner's report.  

    (c) If the commissioner finds that any part of any 
 employer's contribution deficiency is due to fraud with intent 
 to avoid payment of contributions to the fund, 50 percent of the 
 total amount of the deficiency or $500, whichever is greater, 
 shall be assessed as a penalty against the employer and 
 collected in addition to the deficiency. 

    (d) Any employing unit that fails to make and submit to the 
 commissioner any report, other than a contribution report or 
 wage detail report, as and when required by rule, shall be 
 subject to a penalty of $50. 

    (e) The penalties provided for in paragraphs (a), (c), and 
 (d) are in addition to interest and any other penalties and 
 shall be paid to the department and credited to the contingent 
 account. 

    (f) An employer or officer or agent of an employer is 
 guilty of a gross misdemeanor, unless the contribution or other 
 payment involved exceeds $500, in which case the person is 
 guilty of a felony, if the individual: 

    (1) in order to avoid becoming or remaining a subject 
 employer or to avoid or reduce any contribution or other payment 
 required under this chapter: 

    (i) makes a false statement or representation knowing it to 
 be false; or 

    (ii) knowingly fails to disclose a material fact; or 

    (2) willfully fails or refuses to make any contributions or 
 other payment at the time required. 

    Subd. 2.    Contribution or payment in lieu of 
 contribution presumed valid.  The contribution and payment in 
 lieu of contribution, as assessed by the commissioner, including 
 any penalties, shall be presumed to be valid and correctly 
 determined and assessed, and the burden shall be upon the 
 employer to show its incorrectness or invalidity.  A statement 
 by the commissioner of the amount of the contribution, payment 
 in lieu of contribution, interest and penalties as determined or 
 assessed by the commissioner, shall be admissible in evidence in 
 any court or administrative proceeding and shall be prima facie 
 evidence of the facts in the statement. 

    Subd. 3.    Confession of judgment.  (a) Any 
 contribution report or other form that is required to be filed 
 with the commissioner concerning contributions or payments in 
 lieu of contributions due, shall contain a written declaration 
 that it is made under the penalties for willfully making a false 
 report and shall contain a confession of judgment for the amount 
 of the contribution or payments in lieu of contributions shown 
 due thereon to the extent not timely paid together with any 
 interest and penalty due under this chapter. 

    (b) The commissioner may, within six years after the report 
 or other form is filed, notwithstanding section 541.09, enter 
 judgment on any confession of judgment after 20 calendar days' 
 notice served upon the employer by mail.  The judgment shall be 
 entered by the court administrator of any county upon the filing 
 of a photocopy of the confession of judgment along with a 
 statement of the commissioner that the contribution or payment 
 in lieu of contribution has not been paid. 

    Subd. 4.    Costs.  Any employing unit which fails to 
 make and submit reports or pay any contributions or 
 reimbursement when due is liable to the department for any 
 recording fees, sheriff fees, costs incurred by referral to any 
 public or private agency outside the department, or litigation 
 costs incurred in the collection of the amounts due or obtaining 
 the reports.  

    If any check or money order, in payment of any amount due 
 under this chapter, is not honored when presented for payment, 
 the employing unit will be assessed a fee of $20 which is in 
 addition to any other fees provided by this chapter.  The fee 
 shall be assessed regardless of the amount of the check or money 
 order or the reason for nonpayment with the exception of 
 processing errors made by a financial institution. 

    Costs due under this subdivision shall be paid to the 
 department and credited to the administration fund. 

    Subd. 5.    Interest on past due contributions.  If 
 contributions or reimbursements to the unemployment fund are not 
 paid on the date on which they are due the unpaid balance 
 thereof shall bear interest at the rate of one and one-half 
 percent per month or any part thereof.  Contributions or 
 reimbursements received by mail postmarked on a day following 
 the date on which the law requires contributions to be paid 
 shall be deemed to have been paid on the due date if there is 
 substantial evidence tending to prove that the contribution was 
 actually deposited in the United States mails properly addressed 
 to the department with postage prepaid thereon on or before the 
 due date.  Interest collected pursuant to this subdivision shall 
 be paid into the contingent account.  Interest on contributions 
 due under this subdivision may be waived in accordance with 
 rules as the commissioner may adopt. 

    Subd. 6.    Interest on judgments.  Notwithstanding 
 section 549.09, if judgment is or has been entered upon any past 
 due contribution or reimbursement which has not been paid within 
 the time specified by law for payment, the unpaid judgment shall 
 bear interest at the rate specified in subdivision 1 until the 
 date of payment.  The rate will be effective after July 1, 1987, 
 on any unpaid judgment balances and all new judgments docketed 
 after that date. 

    Subd. 7.    Adjustments, refunds.  If an employer makes 
 an application for an adjustment of any amount paid as 
 contributions or interest thereon, to be applied against 
 subsequent contribution payments, or for a refund thereof 
 because such adjustment cannot be made, and the payment was made 
 within four years prior to the year in which the application is 
 made, and if the commissioner shall determine that payment of 
 such contributions or interest or any portion thereof was 
 erroneous, the commissioner shall allow such employer to make an 
 adjustment thereof, without interest, in connection with 
 subsequent contribution payments by the employer, or if such 
 adjustment cannot be made, the commissioner shall refund from 
 the fund to which such payment has been credited, without 
 interest, the amount erroneously paid.  For like cause and 
 within the same period, adjustment or refund may be so made on 
 the commissioner's own initiative. 

    In the event that any application for adjustment or refund 
 is denied in whole or in part, a written notice of such denial 
 shall be mailed to the applicant.  Within 30 days after the 
 mailing of such notice of denial to the applicant's last known 
 address, the applicant may request, in writing, that the 
 commissioner grant a hearing for the purpose of reconsidering 
 the facts submitted and to consider any additional information.  
 Proceedings on the appeal shall be conducted in accordance with 
 section 268.105. 

    Subd. 8.    Limitation.  Nothing in sections 268.03 to 
 268.23, or any part thereof, shall be construed to authorize any 
 refund of moneys due and payable under the law and rules in 
 effect at the time such moneys were paid. 

    Subd. 9.    Prior decisions.  In the event a final 
 decision on an appeal under section 268.105 determines the 
 amount of contributions due under sections 268.03 to 268.23, 
 then, if the amount, together with interest and penalties, is 
 not paid within 30 days after the decision, the provisions of 
 section 268.058 apply.  The commissioner shall proceed 
 thereunder, substituting a certified copy of the final decision 
 in place of the contribution report.  A final decision on an 
 appeal under section 268.105 is conclusive for all the purposes 
 of sections 268.03 to 268.23 except as otherwise provided, and, 
 together with the records therein made, shall be admissible in 
 any subsequent judicial proceeding involving liability for 
 contributions. 

    Subd. 10.    Priorities under legal dissolutions or 
 distributions.  In the event of any distribution of an 
 employer's assets pursuant to an order of any court under the 
 laws of this state, including any receivership, assignment for 
 benefit of creditors, adjudicated insolvency, composition, or 
 similar proceeding, contributions then or thereafter due shall 
 be paid in full prior to all other claims except claims for 
 wages of not more than $250 to each claimant, earned within six 
 months of the commencement of the proceedings.  In the event of 
 an employer's adjudication in bankruptcy, judicially confirmed 
 extension proposal, or composition, under the federal bankruptcy 
 act of 1898, as amended, contributions then or thereafter due 
 shall be entitled to such priority as is provided in that act 
 for taxes due any state of the United States. 

    HIST: Ex1936 c 2 s 14; 1941 c 554 s 13; 1943 c 650 s 9; 1945 c 
 376 s 13; 1949 c 605 s 12,13; 1951 c 55 s 1; 1953 c 97 s 17; 
 1969 c 9 s 65; 1969 c 567 s 3; 1969 c 854 s 13; 1973 c 254 s 3; 
 1973 c 720 s 73 subds 2,3; 1975 c 108 s 1; 1975 c 302 s 3,4; 
 1975 c 336 s 22,23; 1977 c 430 s 25 subd 1; 1978 c 618 s 2; 1978 
 c 674 s 60; 1980 c 508 s 11-13; 3Sp1981 c 2 art 1 s 33; 1Sp1982 
 c 1 s 34,35; 1983 c 372 s 39; 1985 c 248 s 70; 1Sp1985 c 14 art 
 9 s 75; 1986 c 444; 1987 c 362 s 26; 1987 c 385 s 28-30; 1989 c 
 65 s 12; 1989 c 209 art 2 s 1; 1993 c 67 s 11; 1994 c 483 s 1; 
 1995 c 54 s 13-15; 1996 c 417 s 24,31; 1997 c 66 s 66-69,79