Income tax; corporation; overpayment of estimated tax; adjustment; procedure

(1) A corporation may, after the close of the taxable year and on or before the fifteenth day of the third month thereafter and before the day on which it files a return for such taxable year, file an application for an adjustment of an overpayment by it of estimated income tax for such taxable year. An application under this section shall not constitute a claim for credit or refund. The application shall be filed in such manner and form as the Tax Commissioner may prescribe by rules, regulations, and instructions. The application shall set forth: (a) The estimated income tax paid by the corporation during the taxable year; (b) the amount which, at the time of filing the application, the corporation estimates as its income tax liability for the taxable year; (c) the amount of the requested adjustment; and (d) such other information for purposes of carrying out this section as may be required by rules and regulations.

(2) Within forty-five days from the date on which an application for adjustment is filed, the Tax Commissioner shall make, to the extent he or she deems practicable in such period, a limited examination of the application to discover omissions and errors. The Tax Commissioner shall determine the amount of the adjustment upon the basis of the application and the examination. The Tax Commissioner may disallow, without further action, any application which he or she finds to contain material omissions or errors which he or she deems cannot be corrected within such forty-five days. The decision made by the Tax Commissioner shall be final and not subject to further review.

(3) Upon approval of the application, the Tax Commissioner, within the forty-five-day period, may credit the amount of the adjustment against any existing tax liability on the part of the corporation and shall refund the remainder to the corporation. No application under this section shall be allowed unless the amount of the adjustment equals or exceeds (a) ten percent of the amount estimated by the corporation on its application as its income tax liability for the taxable year and (b) five hundred dollars.

(4) Any adjustment under this section shall be treated as a reduction in the estimated income tax paid, computed on the day the credit is allowed or the refund is paid. Any credit or refund of an adjustment shall be treated as if not made when determining (a) whether there has been any underpayment of estimated income tax under section 77-2790 and (b) if there is an underpayment, the period during which the underpayment existed.

(5) For purposes of this section, income tax liability shall mean the excess of the income tax imposed by sections 77-2714 to 77-27,135 reduced by the credits against the tax provided by state law. The amount of an adjustment authorized under this section shall be equal to the excess of the estimated income tax paid by the corporation during the taxable year reduced by the amount which, at the time of filing the application, the corporation estimates as its income tax liability for the taxable year. A corporation seeking an adjustment under this section, which paid its estimated income tax on a consolidated basis or expects to make a consolidated return for the taxable year, shall be subject to such conditions, limitations, and exceptions as the Tax Commissioner may prescribe by rules, regulations, and instructions.

(6) An excessive adjustment shall be equal to the smaller of the amount of the adjustment or the amount by which the income tax liability for the taxable year as shown on the return for the taxable year exceeds the estimated income tax paid during the taxable year, reduced by the amount of the adjustment. The amount of any excessive adjustment made before the fifteenth day of the third month following the close of the taxable year shall bear interest from the date on which the adjustment was allowed to such fifteenth day at the rate specified in section 45-104.02 , as such rate may from time to time be adjusted.