86-0310 - Income

BEFORE THE STATE TAX COMMISSION OF UTAH

_____________________________________

XXXXX :

)

:

Petitioner, )

:

v. ) INFORMAL DECISION

:

)

COLLECTION DIVISION OF THE : Appeal No. 86 0310

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. An Informal Hearing was held on XXXXX, in the offices of the Utah State Tax Commission. XXXXX, Tax Appeals Supervisor, and David J. Angerhofer, Hearing Officer, heard the matter for the Commission. XXXXX represented the Petitioner.

Petitioner prepared his federal and state taxes on the same day for the tax year XXXXX. Checks were prepared for both the Internal Revenue Service and the Utah State Tax Commission, but both checks were mistakenly sent to the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS in turn cashed the check made out to the Utah State Tax Commission. Since the check cleared Petitioner's bank, Petitioner was never put on notice that the Tax Commission did not receive the check with the required forms. Only when the IRS later notified Petitioner that an overpayment had been made did Petitioner realize that a problem existed.

Petitioner prepared a second check for the Utah State Tax Commission and paid it on XXXXX. Respondent assessed a penalty of $$$$$, and interest of $$$$$ as of XXXXX, on a tax due of $$$$$. Petitioner has paid the interest but requests a waiver of the penalty.

FINDINGS

Prior to this Informal Hearing, the penalty had been reduced to $$$$$ from the $$$$$ originally assessed. This reduction reflects the facts that Petitioner has no other delinquencies, that the IRS cashed the check made out to the Tax Commission, and that because the check cleared the bank, Petitioner had no way to know that a problem existed until the IRS notified the Petitioner of an overpayment. However, the Tax Commission does not waive the penalty entirely because Petitioner was negligent in failing to include the check with the return filed with the State Tax Commission. Therefore, the penalty shall remain at $$$$$.

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 penalty shall remain at $$$$$.

The assessment of interest by the Collection Division of the Utah State Tax Commission is affirmed.

DATED this 4 day of February, 1986.

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