Whats a good reason to tell State for late tax filing?
 

Im a small biz owner and for 09' i filed late for my Sales & Use tax (st50) for the quarters. The 09' sales tax owed was very small ($400). I knew i would pay a penalty but had no idea it would be so large. I thought it was a % of taxes owed.

I filed for each 09' quarter when i did my tax return this year (3/2010). I now just get a letter from a Credit Agency saying i owe all these penalties and fines. They said im being fined $100 for each month i was late along with other smaller penalties. The fines come out to be over $3k. Thats over 7 times more than the sale taxes i paid for the year.

Spoke to my accountant and he said its possible to give the state a valid reason for being late and they might take the penalties off. Possible reasons could be sickness, incarceration, death in family etc.... But this is just a possibility.

Has anyone had a similar problem and was able to get rid of the fines they owed?