Georgia Judges Cast Doubt on YKK’s Inventory Exemption Position

Zipper maker YKK (U.S.A.) Inc. doesn’t seem to have convinced a Georgia Court of Appeals panel at oral arguments Tuesday that it was wrongly penalized for leaving the signature off an application for a tax exemption.

YKK filed the application to exempt some of its inventory from property tax as part of its tax return package. The inadvertent omission of a signature is a correctable clerical error because the accompanying return was signed, and no law requires a signature on the exemption form, Alla Raykin of Asbury Gardner argued for YKK.

The statute says the taxpayer must timely file a ...