$6 tax bill costs widow her home

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

$6 tax bill costs widow her home

dracula.jpg

Unhappy at its near-namesake’s monopoly as the home of horror stories, Battisti’s plight shows Pennsylvania is playing catch-up

While Transylvania is the legendary home of Count Dracula, it is the US state of Pennsylvania that has thrown up a new horror story. A Pennsylvania judge has ruled against a woman who lost her home because of an outstanding $6.30 interest charge for the late payment of school taxes.

Eileen Battisti, a widow from Pennsylvania, told the Associated Press that she will appeal the decision.

"I paid everything, and didn't know about the $6.30," she said. "For the house to be sold just because of $6.30 is crazy."

The dispute is centred on the payment of 2008 school district taxes (plus penalties and interest). Battisti submitted those payments six days late, in early May 2009, incurring a $6.30 interest penalty as a result. Battisti claimed she was never informed of the penalty amount.

Battisti is seeking to appeal the decision on the grounds that she has struggled to assume responsibility for financial matters that were handled by her husband up until his death in 2004. She also cited "physical and emotional challenges" as extenuating circumstances that have caused her to "be tardy in paying taxes", including serious physical injuries that befell the family and the murder of her son's college friend.

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

SF: Germany has forgotten to think about digital reporting requirements, a WTS partner claimed at ITR’s Indirect Tax Forum 2025
E-invoicing is currently characterised by dynamism, with fragmentation acting as a key catalyst for increasing interoperability, says Aida Cavalera of the International Observatory on eInvoicing
Pillar two and the US tax system ‘could work in harmony’, Scott Levine tells ITR in an exclusive interview to mark his arrival at Baker McKenzie
Peter White, who has a tax debt of A$2 million, has been banned for five years from seeking registration with Australia’s Tax Practitioners Board (TPB)
Wopke Hoekstra’s comments followed US measures aimed against ‘unfair foreign taxes’; in other news, Grant Thornton and Holland & Knight made key tax partner hires
An Administrative Review Tribunal ruling last month in Australia v Alcoa represents a 'concerning trend' for the tax authority, one expert tells ITR
A recent decision underlines that Indian courts are more willing to look beyond just legal compliance and examine whether foreign investment structures have real business substance
Following his Liberal Party’s election victory, one source expects Mark Carney to follow the international consensus on pillar two, as experts assess the new administration
A German economics professor was reportedly ‘irritated’ by how the Finnish ministry of finance used his data
Countries that care about the fair taxation of tech multinationals and equitable global distribution of wealth should back the UN’s tax framework, writes economist Abdelmalek Riad
Gift this article