Taxation Dept. still looking for lost courier bag

The state Department of Taxation is still hoping a lost courier bag with missing tax documents will turn up intact — or failing that, that taxpayers affected by the loss will contact the department to refile their papers.

“We’ve had a few taxpayers coming in, but as far as police finding the bag, none of that yet,” Department of Taxation spokeswoman Mallory Fujitani said Wednesday. “We’re hoping, too. How does it just disappear?”

The department disclosed last week that a bag with completed tax documents from the Hilo and Kona offices which were destined for an air cargo flight for Honolulu went missing on Oct. 4. A driver for Security Armored Car & Courier Service of Hawaii, which has a contract with the state tax department, reported that the documents were discovered to be missing from the back of a truck while delivering the cargo to the airport.

Fujitani said last week that the missing bag contained “approximately 75 documents, and then approximately six documents that were filed with the department that included the payment of cash.” She said the cash had been deposited in a Hilo bank allowing the department to identify those six taxpayers.

The missing Kona office documents were mailed or dropped off between Sept. 24 and Oct. 1 while the Hilo office documents were mailed between Oct. 1-3 or dropped off on Oct. 3 and 4, Fujitani said.

Businesses and individual taxpayers who believe their documents may be affected by this incident are asked to contact the department’s Hilo office at 974-6321.