BEFORE THE STATE TAX
COMMISSION OF UTAH
_____________________________________
XXXXX,
:
Petitioners, )
:
v. ) INFORMAL DECISION
:
)
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF THE : Appeal No. 86 0074
STATE TAX
COMMISSION OF UTAH, ) Acct. No. XXXXX
:
Respondent. )
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
An
Informal hearing was held on August 18, XXXXX.
XXXXX, Hearing Officer, heard the matter for the Utah State Tax
Commission. XXXXX represented the
Petitioners.
The penalty and
interest assessment against Petitioner's XXXXX and XXXXX individual income tax
obligations is in dispute. Petitioners
testified that they sold their home in XXXXX and tax liens for back taxes were
paid at that time. In June, XXXXX,
Petitioners received a letter saying that they owed taxes from XXXXX and
XXXXX. The Petitioners paid the tax but
did not pay the penalty amount.
Petitioners dispute the penalty and interest assessment because the Tax
Commission took more than three and four years respectively to notify
Petitioners that there were amounts owing from XXXXX and XXXXX.
FINDINGS
1. Utah Code Ann. § 59-14A-86(a) (1986)
provides:
Except as otherwise provided in this section, the amount of any tax
imposed by this act shall be assessed within three years after the return was
filed (whether or not such return was filed on or after the day prescribed),
and no proceeding in court without assessment for the collection of such tax
shall be begun after the expiration of such period.
2. Utah Code Ann. § 59-14A-86(b) provides, for
the purposes of this section, that a return of tax imposed by the Individual
Income Tax Act shall be deemed to be filed on the last day prescribed by law
for the filing thereof.
3. Utah Code Ann. § 59-14A-39(h) provides that
any reference in the Individual Income Tax Act to income tax or tax imposed by
the Act shall be deemed to also refer to penalties provided by Section 89(h). Utah Code Ann. § 78-12-26(4) sets forth a three-year statute of limitations for
"[a]n action for a liability created by the statutes of this state, other
than for a penalty or forfeiture under the laws of this state, except where in
special cases a different limitation is prescribed by the statutes of this
state."
4. The Commission finds that more than three
years passed between the time the statute of limitations on Petitioner's XXXXX
liability began to run (April 15, XXXXX) and the end of the three-year statute
(April 15, XXXXX).
DECISION AND ORDER
Based on the evidence
presented at the hearing, the written evidence in the file, and the statutes
above cited, it is the Decision and Order of the Utah State Tax Commission that
the penalty and interest assessed against Petitioner's XXXXX and XXXXX
individual income tax liabilities be waived for failure of the Respondent to
collect the penalty and interest within the time provided by law. Any interest associated with the penalty is
ordered to be reduced accordingly.
DATED this 3 day of
September, 1986.
BY ORDER OF THE STATE TAX COMMISSION OF UTAH.
R. H. Hansen Roger
O. Tew
Chairman Commissioner
Joe B.
Pacheco
Commissioner