WINNSBORO – Fairfield County taxpayers are getting lumps of coal this holiday season, owing to a series of financial missteps generating nearly $1.4 million in IRS penalties and interest stemming from late and unfiled health care tax forms dating from the 2017 through the 2022 filing seasons.
In addition, the county has not yet received the tax bill for penalties and interest on healthcare tax forms from 2021, which still remain unfiled, meaning the tax bill will likely climb even higher.
While Interim Administrator Laura Johnson said the county received notification of the fines and penalties from the IRS in May and June, 2023, and paid them those same months, the public and county council were not informed about the issue until the Dec. 11 county council meeting.
Below is a breakdown of the various delinquent tax forms and resulting penalty and interest payments that were presented at the council meeting.
Johnson said the current finance director for the county, Beverly Mozie, was not there to present the report because she had fallen ill.
- Tax Year 2017 – IRS healthcare forms were submitted on time but contained errors, which were not corrected and resubmitted until February 2023, costing the county $386,379.51.
- Tax Year 2019 – IRS quarterly reports were two months late but fines ($378,682.76) went unpaid until June 2023.
- Tax Year 2020 – Quarterly report for December 2020 was late, costing the county $390,027.
- Tax Year 2021 – Quarterly report never filed, costing the county $214,133.96.
- Tax Year 2022 – Quarterly report filed twice, so IRS combined both forms and determined the county owed $29,327.66.
Johnson insisted that she had yet to understand why all of this occurred – the untimely filing or not filing at all – and laid the problem squarely at the feet of Anne Bass, the previous finance director for the county.
Johnson served as the county’s comptroller for three of the filing years (2017 – 2020). Johnson was promoted out of the department in 2020. Bass had worked under Johnson’s supervision until she was promoted into Johnson’s position in 2020 with the title of finance director. Bass left the county in February, 2023.
Johnson said the letters notifying the county of penalties for tax year 2017 were received in February, 2023, and the penalties for that year were successfully appealed in that same month. Bass was finance director at that time.
The penalties for tax years 2019 – 2022, were not received until May and June of 2023, after Bass left the county. Johnson said those penalties and interest were paid in May and June of 2023, but have not yet been appealed.
On Dec. 11, the day Johnson presented the report to council, she said the current director, Beverly Mozie, had notified Bass about the issue earlier that day.
Bass responded that same day in an email, saying the Affordable Care Act health forms were filed each year, and that the electronic documents are on the shared file on the county server.
Bass also acknowledged receiving notifications of rejection of errors for the year [2017] that was received in February, 2023.
“I was able to complete the appeal on [that] one year, supplying supporting documentation to resolve the errors,” Bass wrote. “Often it would be things like a person’s name being different on the county employee record compared to how they file their taxes, or a name or address change that didn’t match up.”
Bass said the assessed fees were relieved on that year following her appeal.
“It was a long process, but thankfully was resolved in the county’s favor,” Bass wrote. “Mrs. Mozie asked me how to handle the [subsequent] years with errors, my answer was to continue to work through the appeals process.”
Bass said she could not comment on any notifications that were received after she left the county.
Michael Smith contributed to this story.
