Virginia Law

A. Upon a failure to file or a failure to pay a tax due, a penalty of 10% may be imposed. If both the application and payment are late, only one penalty may be imposed, unless the local official determines the taxpayer has a history of noncompliance, then both penalties may be assessed. Where an assessment of additional tax is made, but the application or the return, or both were made in good faith by the taxpayer and there is no fraud, recklessness or intentional disregard of the law on the part of the taxpayer, there will be no penalty on the additional tax.

B. A 10% late penalty may be imposed on any assessed tax that is not paid within 30 days. If the failure to file or pay is not the fault of the taxpayer, the penalty will not be imposed, or if imposed, shall be abated. Lack of fault must be demonstrated by the taxpayer showing that he acted responsibly and that the failure was due to events beyond his control. "Acted responsibly" means that the taxpayer exercised the reasonable care that a prudent person would exercise under the circumstances, and that the taxpayer took significant steps to avoid or mitigate the failure. Examples of such steps include requesting appropriate extensions (where applicable), attempting to prevent a foreseeable impediment, acting to remove an impediment once it occurred, and promptly rectifying a failure once the impediment was removed or the failure discovered. "Events beyond the taxpayer's control" include, but are not limited to, unavailability of records due to fire or other casualty; unavoidable absence (e.g., due to death or serious illness) of the person with sole responsibility for tax compliance; or the taxpayer's reasonable reliance in good faith upon erroneous written information from the assessing official who was aware of the relevant facts relating to the taxpayer's business when he provided the erroneous information.