(1) Every employer who fails to keep and preserve the records required by this title or fails to make the reports provided in this title shall be subject to a penalty determined by the director but not to exceed five hundred dollars or two hundred percent of the quarterly tax for each such offense, whichever is greater. Any employer who fails to keep and preserve the records adequate to determine taxes due shall be forever barred from questioning, in an appeal before the board of industrial insurance appeals or the courts, the correctness of any assessment by the department based on any period for which such records have not been kept and preserved.
(2) The department may waive penalties for first-time or de minimis violations of this section. Any penalty that is waived under this section may be reinstated and imposed in addition to any additional penalties associated with a subsequent violation or failure within a year to correct the previous violation as required by the department.