01-1852

Penalty & Interest

Signed: 4/10/02

BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION

____________________________________

PETITIONER, )

) ORDER

Petitioner, )

) Appeal No. 01-1852

v. )

) Account No. #####

AUDITING DIVISION OF THE )

UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION, ) Tax Type: Penalty & Interest

)

Respondent. ) Judge: Rees

_____________________________________

Presiding:

Irene Rees, Administrative Law Judge

Appearances:

For Petitioner: PETITIONER REP, tax representative

For Respondent: Brent Taylor, Audit Manager

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

This matter came before the Commission for a Status Conference on February 20, 2002. Upon agreement by the parties, the conference was converted to an Initial Hearing for the purpose of hearing Petitioner's request for a waiver of the penalty and interest assessments in this matter. No other issues are pending on appeal.

APPLICABLE LAW

The Tax Commission is granted the authority to waive, reduce, or compromise penalties and interest upon a showing of reasonable cause. Utah Code Ann. '59-1-401(10).

DISCUSSION

Although the Commission has discretion to waive interest assessments, it will generally do so only if there is a showing that the error arose as a result of a Tax Commission error or if the Petitioner relied on erroneous information supplied by the Commission's staff. We find that Petitioner has not shown justification for waiver of the interest.

With regard to the penalty assessment, the Commission's policy is somewhat more lenient if the taxpayer has a good payment history and if this assessment arises from a first time error. Respondent verifies that it has not made prior assessments against Petitioner and that Petitioner's payment history is good. On the basis of Petitioner's prior compliance history, the penalty assessment is waived.

DECISION AND ORDER

Based upon the foregoing, the Commission finds sufficient cause to waive the penalty assessment, but finds that Petitioner has not shown sufficient cause for waiver of the interest assessment. Therefore, we waive the penalty assessment and affirm the interest assessment.

matter.

BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION:

DATED this 10^th day of April , 2002.

____________________________________

Irene Rees, Administrative Law Judge

The Commission has reviewed this case and the undersigned concur in this decision.

Pam Hendrickson R. Bruce Johnson

Commission Chair Commissioner

Palmer DePaulis Marc B. Johnson

Commissioner Commissioner