Pennsylvania's debt collectors finally caught up with Steve Brown.

The West Hempfield Township businessman found out he owed the Department of Revenue 2 cents.

And that's with a 25 percent penalty.

The penalty is a little something for the collection agency that had to pay its attorneys to review Brown's tax records, track him down and lick the 44 cent stamp on the April 26 letter seeking payment in full, plus accruing interest.

"It's hysterical," said Brown, 50. "We got a big laugh out of it. I taped two pennies to the coupon and mailed it back and demanded a receipt."

"Are they shaking their heads as much as I am?" he laughed. "Who on Earth would do this? They had to put this letter in the mail, so they had to pay postage. And for what? A commission? What's 40 percent of 2 cents?"

Hey, we all know Pennsylvania's hurting, and disappointing tax collections in April have thrown the state budget further out of whack. Through the first 10 months of the budget year, the state is facing a $1.1 billion shortfall.

But is the state revenue department really going after taxpayers for chump change?

Uh, no.

"The department does not require payments of less than a dollar," revenue department spokeswoman Stephanie Weyant said. "We would never ask someone to pay, for example, 7 cents."

So what's the deal?

It turns out, the state-contracted debt collector made a whopper of a mistake in its letter to Brown — and some 36,000 other Pennsylvania taxpayers.

The recipients, in fact, might not owe anything to the state; they just haven't filed returns, for one reason or another. In Brown's case, the notice was addressed to his former business, Travel Toll LLC, which has been shut down for more than a year and therefore hadn't filed returns.

But the computers at the offices of debt collectors Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson superimposed the number of filing periods missed onto the line item for amount owed.

So instead of being notified that his business missed two filing periods, Brown was told he owed 2 cents.

Brown was good-natured about the mistake, saying he considered calling the agency to work out some sort of installment plan. Brown's wife of 10 years, Karen, died about three weeks ago, and the letter provided some much-needed humor during an otherwise tough time.

"I got the biggest laugh of my life," he said.

Not laughing quite as much was Michael Scoliere, the collection firm's managing partner in its Harrisburg office. He said the glitch cost the firm about $18,000.

"The letters went out last Monday," he said. "When we realized at the end of last week what was going on, we immediately sent out another letter. They don't go out at cost to taxpayers. That's on our dime."

He said it's still important for folks such as Brown to contact his firm because they may be eligible for the state's tax amnesty program. Or, if they don't owe anything, they should file paperwork taking their defunct businesses off the Revenue Department's books.

"It's disappointing that people have become confused by those pennies," Scoliere said. "Because we're helping people get these returns filed."

What about Brown's 2 cents?

"He'll be getting them back," Scoliere said. "We're not going to keep anyone's money."

tmurse@lnpnews.com