BEFORE THE STATE TAX
COMMISSION OF UTAH
_____________________________________
XXXXX
Petitioner, :
v. : INFORMAL DECISION
:
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF THE : Appeal No. 88-1193
UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION, : Acct.
No. XXXXX
Respondent. :
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
is an appeal to the Utah State Tax Commission for reconsideration of a
Commission decision denying a request for waiver of penalty and interest
assessments on Petitioner's XXXXX corporate income tax return. Pursuant to Utah Code Ann. §63-46b-5(1)(b),
no hearing was held. A review of
Petitioner's file served as the evidentiary basis for this decision.
Petitioner,
XXXXX, failed to file timely corporate returns for XXXXX and XXXXX and was
assessed late filing and late payment penalties and interest. This noncompliance was due in part to the
fact that XXXXX, President of the petitioning corporation, was out of the
country during that period of time.
XXXXX asserts that he believed that during his absence all business matters
were being handled by his accountants. He also asserts that because he has been
diligent in his efforts to correct the errors, he has paid the penalties and
interest for the XXXXX tax year and because he never received notification of
the tax due, the Commission should be lenient in granting his request for
waiver of the XXXXX penalty and interest assessments.
FINDINGS
Utah
Code Ann. §59-7-123(2) stipulates that corporate returns are to be made on or
before the XXXXX following the tax year.
Utah Code Ann. §59-1-128 states that failure to file returns and remit
taxes within this time opens the corporate taxpayer to liability for penalty
and interest assessments, whether or not the tax is paid "before the
discovery of the neglect, in which case the [penalty and interest] amount. . . added
shall be collected in the same manner as the tax."
Petitioner's
failure to file timely returns warranted penalty and interest assessments
regardless of whether Petitioner was notified of the delinquency since the
penalty attached XXXXX with interest accruing from that time. Petitioner's absence from the country does
not justify a waiver since the ultimate responsibility for tax matters always
remains with the taxpayer, whether or not another party has been designated to
handle such matters.
DECISION AND ORDER
Based
on the foregoing facts, it is the decision and order of the Commission that the
request for a waiver of penalty and interest assessments be denied.
DATED
this 27 day of September, 1988.