Durango School District 9-R staff were quick to set the record straight last week about rumors of “owed back taxes” to the Internal Revenue Service.

Durango school district Director of Finance Kira Horenn said the IRS applied the district’s federal income tax payments to the incorrect fiscal quarter.

“We remit payment to the IRS on a monthly basis for federal tax withholdings following our monthly payroll. When those payments are electronically remitted to the IRS, we designate which quarter the payment applies to,” Horenn said.

In a blurb called “Just the Facts” in the district’s weekly community update, 9-R attempted to clarify for community members who reached out to staff about the district owing outstanding tax payments. The blurb was started by the district in order to clear up misunderstandings between the community and the district.

Horenn said this misapplication of payments to the incorrect quarter created an “unpaid” balance due on taxes, even though the correct taxes were remitted and drawn from the district’s bank account.

She added that this isn’t an issue that the district experiences often.

“In my experience at Durango School District we have yet to experience an issue such as this in regards to our federal tax remittance,” she said.

The issue was immediately resolved upon discovery through a reconciliation of taxes remitted, 941 quarterly filings and the transcripts provided by the IRS.

After reviewing the documents, it was clear that the issue was a result of misapplication of payment to incorrect quarters, Horenn said.

A member of the IRS media relations team could not comment on the incident Tuesday, and the IRS media team did not respond to an email request for comment on Tuesday.

tbrown@durangoherald.com