Harpole v. Dept. of Rev.

DECISION TC-MD 250060G 	1 of 4
IN THE OREGON TAX COURT
MAGISTRATE DIVISION
Income Tax
CANDACE A. HARPOLE, 	)
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Plaintiff, 	TC-MD 250060G
v.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE,
State of Oregon,
DECISION	Defendant.
This matter came before the court on Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment.
Plaintiff seeks a refund of an overpayment of her 2020 personal income tax. Defendant argues it
is time-barred from issuing the refund by ORS 314.415.1 For the reasons set forth below, the
court grants Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment.
I. FACTS AND LEGAL BACKGROUND
Plaintiff filed her 2020 personal income tax return on August 8, 2024, requesting a
refund. Defendant denied that refund request pursuant to ORS 314.415(2)(a) because the return
was received more than three years after the due date.
In March 2020, both the Governor of Oregon and the President of the United States had
declared an emergency due to the public health threat posed by COVID-19. Revenue Director
Order 2020-01, March 24, 2020. Pertinent governmental directives issued during that time are
discussed in the analysis below. Also beginning in 2020 and continuing in the years that
followed, Plaintiff endured personal hardships that contributed to her delay in filing her 2020
return.
1 The court’s references to the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) are to 2023.

DECISION TC-MD 250060G 	2 of 4
Plaintiff asks the court to allow a refund of her 2020 overpayment; Defendant asks the
court to uphold its adjustment.
II. ANALYSIS
The issue is whether Defendant is barred by ORS 314.415(2)(a) from refunding a 2020
overpayment to Plaintiff. Under ORS 314.415(2)(a), Defendant may not allow a refund “if the
original return is not filed within three years of the due date, excluding extensions, of the return”
except for amounts paid within two years before the refund claimed.2 Plaintiff argues that her
2020 return was filed within three years of its due date because of alterations to the filing
deadline made during the COVID-19 emergency.3
The due date for Oregon personal income tax returns is “the due date of the
corresponding federal return for the tax year as prescribed under the Internal Revenue Code and
the regulations adopted pursuant thereto.” ORS 314.385(1)(a). For calendar year returns, that
date is generally “the 15th day of April following the close of the calendar year[.]”
IRC § 6072(a).4 However, the federal filing deadline may be postponed by the Secretary of the
Treasury due to disaster, fire, terrorism, or military action, and it is automatically postponed for
servicemembers in combat zones and for anyone living or working in a disaster area. IRC §
2 ORS 314.415(2)(a) states: “The department may not allow or make a refund after three years from the
time the return was filed, or two years from the time the tax (or a portion of the tax) was paid, whichever period
expires later, unless before the expiration of this period a claim for refund is filed by the taxpayer in compliance
with ORS 305.270. In any case, if the original return is not filed within three years of the due date, excluding
extensions, of the return, the department may allow or make a refund only of amounts paid within two years from
the date of the filing of the claim for refund. If a refund is disallowed for the tax year during which excess tax was
paid for any reason set forth in this subsection, the department may not allow the excess as a credit against any tax
occurring on a return filed for a subsequent year.”
3 Plaintiff relates in her Complaint that she was severely injured in January 2021 and spent four months
recovering, but she does not develop an argument based on that injury in her summary judgment briefing. The court
notes that a four-month recovery from a January 2021 injury would have been completed more than three years
before her return was filed on August 8, 2024.
4 Internal Revenue Code (IRC)

DECISION TC-MD 250060G 	3 of 4
7508(a); 7508A(a) (2021). On the state level, Defendant’s director has authority to extend tax
deadlines where Internal Revenue Service (IRS) action or a state-declared emergency impairs
Oregonians’ ability to comply. ORS 305.157(1). Because of the COVID-19 state of emergency,
both the Secretary of the Treasury and Defendant’s director extended the filing deadlines for
2020 returns until May 17, 2021. IRS Notice 2021-21, IRB 986 (2021); Revenue Director’s
Order 2021-01, April 1, 2021.
Because Plaintiff filed her refund claim August 8, 2024, more than three years after
May 17, 2021, it appears prima facie—on its face—that she is ineligible for a refund. See ORS
314.415(2)(a). Nonetheless, Plaintiff argues that an additional action of the IRS is relevant: the
penalty relief announced in IRS Notice 2022-36, IRB 188 (2022), which was the subject of an
IRS news release, IR-2022-163.
Notice 2022-36 recites how, although the due dates for 2019 and 2020 returns had been
postponed, “[a]dditions to tax or penalties for failure to timely file returns continued to accrue for
taxpayers who did not file by the postponed due dates.” IRS Notice 2022-36 § 2. Given the
IRS’s backlog of returns and correspondence, it was determined that penalty relief would allow
the IRS “to focus its resources more effectively, as well as provide relief to taxpayers affected by
the COVID-19 pandemic.” Id. Therefore, the IRS would not impose certain listed penalties with
respect to certain listed 2019 and 2020 returns “that are filed on or before September 30, 2022.”
Id., § 3.A.
Nothing in Notice 2022-36 extends the 2021 filing due date. To the contrary, Notice
2022-36 specifically references previous postponements of due dates and provides a different
form of relief: penalty waiver and abatement. Furthermore, the relief granted is expressly limited
to certain statutes, none of which is pertinent to Plaintiff’s refund claim, and is further limited to

DECISION TC-MD 250060G 	4 of 4
returns filed by September 30, 2022, whereas Plaintiff’s Oregon return was filed August 8, 2024.
Notice 2022-36 is not relevant to Plaintiff’s claim.
Because Plaintiff’s 2020 return was filed more than three years after the due date,
Defendant properly declined to issue a refund. See ORS 314.415(2)(a).
III. CONCLUSION
There is no genuine issue of material fact, and Defendant is entitled to prevail as a
matter of law. See TCR 47 C, TCR-MD 13 B.5 Now, therefore,
IT IS THE DECISION OF THIS COURT that Defendant’s Motion for Summary
Judgment be granted. Plaintiff’s appeal is denied.
POUL F. LUNDGREN
MAGISTRATE
If you want to appeal this Decision, file a complaint in the Regular Division of
the Oregon Tax Court, by mailing to: 1163 State Street, Salem, OR 97301-2563;
or by hand delivery to: Fourth Floor, 1241 State Street, Salem, OR.
Your complaint must be submitted within 60 days after the date of this Decision
or this Decision cannot be changed. TCR-MD 19 B.
This document was signed by Magistrate Poul F. Lundgren and entered on
March 3, 2026.
5 Tax Court Rules (TCR); Tax Court Rules-Magistrate Division (TCR-MD)