BEFORE THE STATE TAX
COMMISSION OF UTAH
_____________________________________
XXXXX,
Petitioner, :
v. : INFORMAL DECISION
:
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF THE : Appeal No. 86 1718
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 sales and use tax account No. XXXXX for XXXXX and XXXXX of
XXXXX. A telephone conference hearing
was held on XXXXX in the offices of the Utah State Tax Commission. David J. Angerhofer, Hearing Officer, heard
the matter for the Commission. XXXXX
represented the Petitioner.
This
matter concerns the failure of Petitioner to prepay the sales and use tax for
the second quarter of XXXXX. Petitioner
stated that it never received the necessary information needed to make the
prepayment and that it was unaware of the requirement to make a prepayment
until the quarterly return for the second quarter of XXXXX had been
received. After reviewing the
requirements for prepayment, Petitioner discovered that it met the requirements
and was required to make prepayments for the second quarter of XXXXX and the
second quarter of XXXXX. Respondent did
not notify Petitioner in XXXXX or XXXXX. Petitioner requests a waiver of the
penalty and interest in this matter.
FINDINGS
It
is the Responsibility of every taxpayer to be aware of Utah State tax
laws. Utah Code Ann. §59-15-5.1 (1953)
clearly states that:
(1) Any person whose
tax liability under Title 59, Chapters 15 and 16, and Title 11, Chapter 9 was
(a) $96,000 for the previous year, (b) $24,000 for the previous quarter, or (c)
whose estimated tax liability is $8,000 or more per month, as determined by the
State Tax Commission, shall prepay not less than 90% of the amount of state and
local tax liability for April and May of each year.
(2)...The
prepayments shall be made to the State Tax Commission on or before the 15th of
June each year, beginning June 15, 1984.
It was not necessary for Respondent to notify Petitioner of the requirement
to prepay income tax for April and May of 1986. The requirement is clearly set forth in the statute. Petitioner has effectively had three years
in which to comply with this statute since a prepayment was not made for 1984
or 1985 even though Petitioner met the requirements. (The 1986 amendment to
59-15-5.1, quoted above, made minor changes in the language of the
original 1984 statute, but the basic requirements have remained the same since
1984.)
Petitioner
had the burden of proof to establish that Respondent assessed penalty and
interest in error. Petitioner failed to
meet this burden of proof.
DECISION AND ORDER
It
is the Decision and Order of the Utah State Tax Commission that Petitioner's request
for waiver of penalty and interest on sales and use tax account No. XXXXX for
XXXXX and XXXXX of XXXXX be denied.
The
assessment of penalty and interest by the Collection Division of the Utah State
Tax Commission is hereby affirmed.
DATED
this 11 day of March, 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