A licensed supplier who is unable to recover the tax from an eligible purchaser or end user is not liable for the tax and may credit the amount of unpaid tax against a later remittance of tax.
(1) To qualify for the credit, the supplier must notify the department in writing of the uncollectible account no later than ten calendar days after the due date for payment of the tax. Notification is to be sent to the Iowa Department of Revenue, Compliance Section - Business, P.O. Box 10465, Des Moines, Iowa 50306-0465.
(2) A supplier does not qualify for the credit if the purchaser did not elect to apply for the eligible purchaser or end user status or did not qualify to be an eligible purchaser. Likewise, the credit does not apply if the supplier sells additional fuel to a delinquent eligible purchaser or end user after notifying the department that the supplier has an uncollectible debt with an eligible purchaser.(3) Upon notification from the supplier that an eligible purchaser is in default of the tax payment, that person's eligible purchaser or end user status will be canceled by the department. The eligible purchaser or end user status will not be reinstated until such time as the purchaser posts securities to guarantee future tax payments as provided in 701-paragraph 259.21(1)"d."(4) Eligible purchaser. Any distributor of motor fuel or special fuel or end user of special fuel who requests authorization to make delayed payments of the motor vehicle fuel tax must first register with the department to obtain the eligible purchaser status. The eligible purchaser must pay the tax to the supplier by electronic funds transfer one business day prior to the date the tax is to be paid by the supplier.
Once approved, the eligible purchaser status is valid until voluntarily canceled by the eligible purchaser or canceled by the department of revenue. See 701-subrule 259.23(4).
This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code section 452A.8 as amended by 1995 Iowa Acts, chapter 155.
Iowa Admin. Code r. 701-260.7
ARC 5842C, IAB 8/11/21, effective 9/15/21; ARC 6508C, IAB 9/7/22, effective 10/12/22; Editorial change: IAC Supplement 10/18/23