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Wos v. Cleveland |
For media inquiries, please contact:
Lisa Gates, vice president of communications
(614) 224-3255 or Lisa@BuckeyeInstitute.org
Background of the Case
With the outbreak of the pandemic and Ohio’s stay-at-home order, Ohioans were forced to make significant changes to how they lived and worked. Unfortunately, while the state was mandating that people stay home to slow the spread of COVID, it simultaneously refused to honor Ohio law, which permits workers to be taxed based on where they live and where they actually perform work. Rather, Ohio’s General Assembly passed an emergency law—House Bill 197—absurdly deeming all work that was performed at a worker’s home to have been performed in an often higher-taxed office location for the purposes of taxation.
After the immediate danger of the pandemic subsided, state lawmakers sought to undo the Orwellian provisions in House Bill 197 and, in June 2021, passed House Bill 110, which allowed workers to seek tax refunds for work they performed outside of a city’s jurisdiction—returning Ohio to its pre-pandemic local tax system.
But the city of Cleveland has refused to obey its own city ordinances that clearly state that when the city owes a tax refund, the refund is subject to interest at a variable rate, which at the time was 10 percent, if the refund is not paid within 90 days after the taxpayer files their return.
Wos v. Cleveland is a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of Kate Wos of Strongsville, David Steffes of North Royalton, and all nonresidents of Cleveland who filed a municipal income tax return with the city and received their refund more than 90 days after filing their return.
On March 12, 2023—after the passage of Ohio House Bill 110, which allowed Ohioans to seek municipal income tax refunds for 2021 and 2022—Kate Wos filed her 2021 municipal tax return with Cleveland. As with countless other taxpayers, Ms. Wos then waited and waited and waited. After a more than six-month delay, Ms. Wos finally received her refund on September 21, 2023. However, the refund did not include the interest for the delay and failed to refund her for her paid vacation days.
Similarly, Mr. Steffes filed his municipal tax returns with Cleveland for 2021, seeking a refund for the time during the pandemic that his employer, Stantec, closed its Cleveland office and ordered all employees to work from home. Initially, the city declined to issue Mr. Steffes’ refund, and the city’s obstruction became so ridiculous as to demand that Mr. Steffes provide some form of verified statement from someone who was actually working in his employer’s Cleveland office in 2021 to confirm that Mr. Steffes was not working out of the Cleveland office. Such verification was, of course, impossible since no one was working out of Stantec’s Cleveland office to observe that Mr. Steffes was not there. Finally, in late 2023, Mr. Steffes received his refund, but as with Ms. Wos, the refund did not include the interest for the delay and failed to refund Mr. Steffes for his paid vacation days.
If you had a municipal income tax refund denied or withheld for more than 90 days by the city of Cleveland for tax years 2021 or 2022 due to Ohio’s emergency-based local income tax rules related to the pandemic, please click the link below in order to provide Buckeye’s lawyers with the information they would need to properly assess your case.
Wos v. Cleveland Class Action Intake Form
Facts of the Case
Current Status
The case is pending with the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas
Case Number
CV-24-993917
Originally Filed
March 6, 2024
Original Court
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas
Plaintiffs
Kate Wos of Strongsville, Ohio
David Steffes of North Royalton, Ohio
Class action class members include all nonresidents of Cleveland who sought refunds of amounts withheld for municipal income tax and received a tax refund more than 90 days after filing their return.
Lawyers
Jay R. Carson, senior litigator, The Buckeye Institute
David C. Tryon, director of litigation, The Buckeye Institute
Alex M. Certo, legal fellow, The Buckeye Institute
Related Cases
Morsy v. Dumas
Kresevic v. Chittok
Timeline of the Case
March 6, 2024
The Buckeye Institute files Wos v. Cleveland in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.
