NEWBURYPORT — On a blackboard sign outside Rosie O'Shea's yesterday, a note was scribbled in white: "We're back. Open at 4 p.m."
It may not seem like much, but that note to passers-by on State Street signaled the end of 21/2-day seizure of the restaurant by the state's Department of Revenue. The state, along a police officer and a locksmith who changed the locks, seized O'Shea's at 10:50 a.m. Wednesday for failure to pay taxes.
But Jim O'Haire, while standing alone in the often crowded pub yesterday afternoon, said he paid the $18,347.95 in back taxes and the pub is open for business.
"It's all paid off," he said. "We thought it was taken care of. It was an accounting thing."
Before yesterday afternoon, the only movement inside the Irish-themed pub was a red-dialed digital clock advertising Guinness beer that ticked away the days, hours, minutes and seconds until St. Patrick's Day.
It seemed possible that O'Haire would miss out on the windfall pubs such as his see during the holiday. O'Haire said the holiday should be especially profitable this year since St. Patrick's Day falls on a Monday, meaning the entire weekend should be filled with green-and-orange themed revelry.
"That's fantastic news," he said of being open for the holiday. "It will be a big weekend, I think."
Wednesday, the Department of Revenue slapped a large, neon orange sign on Rosie's front door that said the business was "in the possession of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."
Most of the $18,347.95 was for failure to play the 5 percent meals tax the state charges restaurants, said Robert Bliss, a Department of Revenue spokesman.
He said about $1,000 of the tax bill was from withholdings and corporate taxes.
"Businesses get seized only after there is an extended period of a lack of communication between the taxpayer and the DOR," Bliss said. "The owner failed to respond even to the notice of intent to seize."
He said the department seizes 80 to 100 businesses a year.
Bliss, speaking to The Daily News before O'Shea's was reopened, said the taxes owed go back to 2004. He said the department started sending notices to O'Shea's in 2006 but did not receive a response from O'Haire.
"We try to work with taxpayers and businesses who get behind," he said. "But if they aren't talking to us or are avoiding talking, then this is one way that we can get their attention.
"This kind of stuff, there is always history," Bliss said. "There is an accumulation of history that gets you to this point."
Bliss said that the step after seizure can go one of two ways.
First, owners can call the Department of Revenue to start discussions about what is needed to get the business reopened. That includes a down payment of the taxes owed, creating a payment plan or paying the taxes.
Secondly, if the department doesn't hear from the taxpayer or discussions are unsuccessful, the state can host an auction.
"Usually when you have an auction, you won't come anywhere close to what the payment is," Bliss said.
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