§383-73 Penalty for delinquency; remission. A penalty of ten per cent or $10, whichever is greater, shall be added to the amount of all delinquent contributions, as hereafter defined, and any delinquent contribution and penalty remaining unpaid fifteen days after the date of delinquency shall bear interest from the date of delinquency at the rate of two-thirds of one per cent for each month or fraction of a month until paid. Any penalty and interest above referred to shall be added to the contribution and shall be collected as though the same were a part of the contribution. For the purposes of this section, a contribution shall be deemed delinquent:

(1) Upon a nonpayment thereof on the date prescribed for its payment, but only in case of failure to pay a contribution shown due by a return, or in case of failure to file a return, or in case of failure to pay a contribution because of a false or fraudulent return; and

(2) Upon nonpayment thereof within the time provided by paragraph (c) of section 383-70, in any other case.

Except in cases of fraud or wilful violation of this chapter or wilful refusal to make a return (but inclusion in a return of a claim of nonliability for contributions shall not be deemed a refusal to make a return), the director of labor and industrial relations may, in a case of excusable failure to file a return or pay a contribution within the time required by this chapter or in a case of uncollectibility of the whole amount due, remit any amount of penalties or interest added to any delinquent contribution. In all such cases there shall be placed on file in the director's office a statement showing the name of the person receiving such remission, the principal amount of the contribution, and the period involved.

Whenever an employer makes a partial payment of a sum owed for delinquent contributions, penalties, and interest, the amount received by the director shall first be credited to interest, then to penalties, and then to principal. [L 1939, c 219, §7(f); am L 1941, c 304, §1, subs 24; RL 1945, §4259; am L 1951, c 123, §1; am L 1953, c 23, §1(4); RL 1955, §93-72; am L 1957, c 205, §1(b); HRS §383-73; gen ch 1985]