BEFORE THE STATE TAX
COMMISSION OF UTAH
_____________________________________
XXXXX )
:
Petitioner, )
:
v. ) INFORMAL DECISION
:
)
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF THE : Appeal No. 86 0257
STATE TAX
COMMISSION OF UTAH, ) Acct. No. XXXXX
:
Respondent. )
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
is an appeal to the Utah State Tax Commission from a decision of the Collection
Division of the Utah State Tax Commission (Respondent) to assess penalty and
interest on individual income tax account No. XXXXX for the tax year XXXXX. In a letter dated November 11, XXXXX,
Petitioner notified the Tax Commission that Petitioner would be unable to
attend an Informal Hearing scheduled for December 15, XXXXX. On December 10, XXXXX, James E. Harward,
Hearing Officer, advised the Petitioner in writing that Petitioner may either
(1) waive the hearing and request that the decision be made on those documents
in the record; or (2) request a telephone conference. Petitioner did not respond to this letter. Therefore, the Tax Commission shall decide
this matter based on the documents in the record.
Petitioner
stated that his XXXXX income tax return was filed late because the federal
taxes were also filed late. Petitioner
submitted a copy of the IRS Form 2688 (Application for Extension of Time to
File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return), which request was granted by the
IRS. Petitioner offered this form for
justification for the late filing of the state return. In addition, Petitioner asserted that the
penalty was unreasonable in comparison to the tax of $$$$$.
Respondent
assessed a penalty of $$$$$ and interest of $$$$$ as of October 3, XXXXX, on a
tax due of $$$$$.
FINDINGS
The
filing of an extension with the IRS is not sufficient to entitle Petitioner to
an extension on his Utah State Tax Return.
Petitioner was required to specifically apply to the Utah State Tax
Commission for an extension pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 59-14A-62 (1953). Petitioner did not file a Utah Form TC-546
(Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File Utah State Tax
Return). Therefore, Petitioner's Utah
return was not timely filed.
Respondent
properly assessed $$$$$ in penalty on Petitioner's individual income tax
account. $$$$$ of the penalty was a
late filing penalty pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 59-14A-92(1) (1953). The return was due on April 15, XXXXX. Since no extension request had been filed,
the return was, in fact, late when it was filed on October 15, XXXXX. A $$$$$ penalty was properly assessed
pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 59-14A-89(a) (1953). This section authorizes a 5% per month penalty to a maximum of
25% on a deficiency in individual income tax.
Petitioner did not pay the deficiency for 6 months, and thus accrued the
maximum penalty of 25%. The total
penalty amounts to $$$$$.
DECISION AND ORDER
It
is the Decision and Order of the Utah State Tax Commission that Petitioner's
request for waiver of penalty on individual income tax account No. XXXXX for
the tax year XXXXX be denied.
The
assessment of penalty and interest by the Collection Division of the Utah State
Tax Commission is hereby affirmed.
DATED
this 21 day of January, 1987.
BY ORDER OF THE STATE TAX COMMISSION OF UTAH.
R. H. Hansen Roger
O. Tew
Chairman Commissioner
Joe B.
Pacheco G.
Blaine Davis
Commissioner Commissioner