Recently (around 2 weeks ago) someone I know received a notice about not filing their city taxes from 2016 and it is now 2018. They are being slapped with 2 fines of over 150$ (3x the amount of the actual tax) each. They did not receive any previous notices or calls about late filing. We both used this program and we both thought that this program filed city taxes as well. I still haven't received a notice about the late penalty and it has been over 6 months. I don't understand how the city can get away with purposefully not sending notices to attempt to get more penalties out of a person. I want to know if there is a way to appeal the penalty for late filing since the only reason I didn't pay the tax because I wasn't aware it was being paid. And if the city intentionally not sending notices about late filing to get more money wasn't enough, they also recently changed to mandatory filing without sending any notices. So I would have never known I needed to file if I wasn't working and still would have been slapped with a $150 penalty even though I would have owed $0 unless, in my scenario, I got a job near the end of the year so I filed my taxes online. Is there any way I can appeal this penalty, or am I and the other person just stuck with these ridiculous fines?
