BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_____________________________________
XXXXX
Petitioner, :
v. : INFORMAL DECISION
: Appeal No.
87-1102
PROPERTY TAX
DIVISION OF THE :
STATE TAX
COMMISSION OF UTAH, )
Respondent. :
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
matter came before the Utah State Tax Commission for an Informal Hearing on
XXXXX. Paul F. Iwasaki, Presiding
Officer, heard the matter for and in behalf of the Tax Commission. Present and representing the Petitioner was
XXXXX. Present and representing the
Respondent were XXXXX, Assistant Attorney General, XXXXX. The Petitioner filed an appeal from the Tax
Commissioner's Notice of Assessment, dated XXXXX. After reviewing the evidence and arguments presented by the
parties, the Tax Commission hereby makes its
FINDINGS OF FACT
1.
The Petitioner timely filed its XXXXX ad valorem worksheet for the XXXXX tax
year based on XXXXX sales.
2.
The Petitioner received notice of the assessment for the XXXXX tax year which
was based on figures it had provided to this Commission of its XXXXX sales by
way of a notice dated XXXXX.
3.
The Notice of Assessment dated XXXXX which was sent to the Petitioner informed
the Petitioner of the requirement of filing a Petition for Redetermination on
or before XXXXX if they were dissatisfied with the assessment.
4.
In XXXXX the Petitioner became aware of an error it had made in the reporting
of its amount of oil and gas sales for XXXXX.
5.
On XXXXX the Petitioner filed a petition for a redetermination of the
assessment.
6.
The errors cited by the Petitioner consisted of the over-reporting of oil
production in XXXXX in the amount of XXXXX.
7.
The Commission did not contribute to the erroneous overstatement of production
by the Petitioner in any way.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Utah
Code Ann. §59-2-1013 1953 as amended, is in effect at the time of the case in question
provided: "If the owner of any property assessed by the Commission, or any
county with a show or reasonable cause, objects to the assessment, either party
may, before XXXXX, apply to the Commission for a hearing. Both the owner or the county upon a showing
of reasonable cause shall be allowed to be a party at any hearing under the
section."
FINAL DECISION
In
the present case, although it is unfortunate that the Petitioner erroneously
provided wrong information to the Commission, the burden of that error should
not be borne by the affected county in question. If redetermination of the assessment of centrally assessed
properties were allowed at any time, it would be impossible for county
government to establish their operating budgets. Therefore, a time limit within which the redetermination may take
place is required. Based upon the
evidence presented during the hearing and arguments of the parties, it is the
finding of the Tax Commission that the petition for redetermination of the
Petitioner is untimely and therefore, the request for redetermination is
denied.
DATED
this 19 day of September, 1989.
BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION.
ABSENT