WAIVER OF PENALTY POLICY

DE 231J Rev. 10 (1-18) (INTERNET) Page 1 of 2

A request for waiver of a penalty requires an evaluation

of the facts presented in writing by the employer. For the

Employment Development Department (EDD) to waive the

penalty, the employer must establish that good cause or

reasonable cause exists, based on the facts involved in the

actual case. Good cause or reasonable cause are issues when

an employer fails to comply in a timely manner with certain

requirements of the California Unemployment Insurance

Code (CUIC) or title 22, California Code of Regulations.

Provisions for waiver of penalty for good cause are in

sections 803, 991, 1088.5, 1088.8, 1111, 1112, 1112.5,

1114, 1116, 1117, and 13057 of the CUIC. Provisions for

waiver of penalty for reasonable cause are in section 13052

of the CUIC. Good cause and reasonable cause have been

interpreted by the California Unemployment Insurance

Appeals Board (CUIAB) to have virtually the same meaning.

Penalties charged under sections 1126 and 1135 of the CUIC,

or any other CUIC section that does not speciﬁcally indicate

provisions for waiver of penalty, cannot be waived.

Waiver of Penalty

A waiver of penalty request will not be considered until the

employer submits a request through e-Services for Business

or in writing that explains why good cause exists and the

reason(s) for the untimeliness. Billing will continue while the

request is reviewed. To avoid the accrual of interest and stop

the collection process, the amount due must be paid. If it is

determined that the penalty should be waived and the penalty

has already been paid, a refund will be issued or applied to

any outstanding liability.

Existence of Good Cause

Good cause exists where the circumstances causing the delay

are clearly beyond the control of the employer or where the

delay is due to a mistake or inadvertence under circumstances

not reasonably foreseeable by the employer. In other words,

the delay is not attributable to the employer’s fault.

Employers are expected to discharge their basic employer

responsibilities and, therefore, must establish all of the

following:

1. They acted in good faith (demonstrated history of timely

payment and reporting).

2. They acted in a diligent, timely, and prudent manner.

3. The circumstances could not have been reasonably

foreseen.

A good cause determination must always take into account

the total time period taken by the employer or his/her

representative to comply with the EDD’s requirements.

Precedent Tax Decisions

The EDD is required to follow the guidelines set forth

in precedent tax decisions issued by the CUIAB when

determining whether good cause exists.

According to Precedent Tax Decision P-T-23, good cause must

be more than a mere excuse. It must be a substantial reason

which affords a legal excuse accompanied by that degree of

diligence which men of ordinary prudence would have used

under similar circumstances. Good cause will depend largely

upon the facts and circumstances of each case.

Precedent Tax Decision P-T-449 addresses good cause

in the case of a delayed remittance. In the decision, the

CUIAB stated that the employer had established a system for

ﬁling returns/reports and remittances that it had reason to

believe was adequate and the belief was grounded in prior

experience and not mere speculation. Therefore, an isolated

instance of inadvertence not reasonably foreseeable by the

employer constitutes a substantial reason which affords a

legal excuse. In this case, the prior history of the petitioner

was considered, showing strong evidence that the petitioner

had reason to believe its system was adequate.

In addition, the CUIAB stated in P-T-449 that when an

employer is aware that its procedures for reporting and

paying its tax obligations are inadequate and that employer

does not meet the time limits for ﬁling the proper forms or

making the proper payments to the EDD, it will be at fault

and will not have good cause for the delay.

NOTE: Unforeseen ﬁnancial hardship is not grounds for

good cause. In Precedent Tax Decision P-T-449, the CUIAB

stipulated that “lack of funds to pay the amount owing on a

return does not constitute good cause.”

Examples Where Good Cause Does Exist

• The employer’s return and remittance for California

was inadvertently placed in the wrong envelope and

mailed timely to the Commonwealth of Virginia. The

CUIAB determined the employer’s late ﬁling was due

to an isolated instance of inadvertence not reasonably

foreseeable by the petitioner and not attributable to any

fault of the petitioner (P-T-449).

• An employer failed to afﬁx proper postage to an

envelope with a timely remittance enclosed. The CUIAB

determined the employer made a good faith effort to ﬁle

on time and believed it had done so. All other payments

and ﬁlings were made timely to the EDD and this was

an exception to that practice. In this case, good cause

existed.

• Good cause existed where the employer, under the

distress of the sudden illness of the employer’s father, was

unable to ﬁle and pay the contributions due timely.

• Catastrophic occurrences, such as ﬁre or earthquake, or

delays attributable to the postal service, would clearly

give the employer good cause (P-T-449). The catastrophic

occurrences would be subject to when the calamity

actually took place in relation to the time when the taxes

were due.

Examples Where Good Cause Does Not Exist

• The CUIAB held that an employer’s reliance upon

another to perform acts does not constitute good cause

since he or she may not complain of his or her voluntary

delegation of authority and, as principal, is bound by the

action or inaction of his or her agent.

• The employer contracted with an accountant to

handle its tax obligations. The accountant failed to ﬁle

reports while assuring the employer that all deadlines

were being met. The employer had a duty to select a

responsible accountant but did not do so. The employer

also failed to specify what assurances were given by the

accountant. Therefore, the employer failed to establish it

acted with the degree of diligence a person of ordinary

prudence would have used under the same or similar

circumstance. In this case, good cause did not exist.

• An employer’s public accountant prepared the return, but

no one was available to draw the check. The accountant

mailed the employer’s return unaccompanied by

payment. The CUIAB found the cause for failure to be the

accountant’s lack of knowledge of the law coupled with

the employer’s failure to have a responsible agent with

the authority to draw checks on its behalf to properly

discharge its responsibility to make contributions.

Good cause did not exist because there was no element

beyond the control of the employer.

• The mere fact that one partner may have been defrauded

does not constitute good cause for the partnership not

ﬁling and paying returns in a timely manner. The partner

had knowledge of the “credentials” or lack thereof

possessed by the other partners. The partner’s conduct in

entrusting the total business to them did not demonstrate

the use of prudence or diligence.

The above-mentioned cases may not encompass the entire

set of factors used by the CUIAB in establishing the existence

or lack of good cause, and are presented here as examples

only. The EDD and the CUIAB will determine good cause on

a case-by-case basis.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

For further information, please contact the Taxpayer

Assistance Center at 1-888-745-3886, or visit the nearest

Employment Tax Office listed in the

California

Employer’s Guide, DE 44, and on the EDD website at

www.edd.ca.gov/Office_Locator/.

The EDD is an equal opportunity employer/program.

Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request

to individuals with disabilities. Requests for services,

aids, and/or alternate formats need to be made by calling

1-888-745-3886 (voice) or TTY 1-800-547-9565.

This information sheet is provided as a public service and is intended to provide nontechnical assistance. Every attempt has been made

to provide information that is consistent with the appropriate statutes, rules, and administrative and court decisions. Any information that

is inconsistent with the law, regulations, and administrative and court decisions is not binding on either the Employment Development

Department or the taxpayer. Any information provided is not intended to be legal, accounting, tax, investment, or other professional advice.

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