2008 TENTATIVE
SIGNIFICANT DECISIONS
January 2008
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Assessments – "Letting" Contractor
Responsibility. Two firms appealed assessments of
industrial insurance taxes due to non‑payment, or incomplete payment,
of premiums by subcontractors. The
firms requested the Board recalculate the premiums by first applying any
money collected from the subcontractors to the premiums, rather than first
applying the monies to penalties and interest. The firms also requested that they be given
credit for the full amount of surety bonds that were on file when the
subcontractor's premiums became delinquent.
Under RCW 51.12.070, the letting contractor is primarily and
directly responsible for all premiums due for work performed by
subcontractors. There is no
requirement that the Department exhaust remedies against subcontractors
before collecting delinquencies from the letting contractor. The application of payments first to
interest, then fees, then penalties, and then to premiums is consistent with
the broad powers granted to the Department to collect taxes necessary to
fully fund the Act. The full amount of
the assessment was affirmed.
Additionally, statutes do not require the Department to proceed
against subcontractor bonds, and no credit for the amount of the bonds can be
given. In declining to give credit for
the amount of the bonds, the Board noted that the Department's claim would be
subordinate to other claims against the bonds, the claims would have to be filed
within one year, and it was unlikely that the full amount of the bond could
be collected. In
re GL & L Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Precision Drywall, Inc., Dckt. Nos. 05 13857,
05 18266, 05 18356 & 06 15457 (January 3, 2008) In re Lea's Drywall,
Inc., Dckt Nos. 05 18262, 05 18265, 05 24037,
06 14434 & 06 19738 ( |
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