BEFORE THE STATE TAX
COMMISSION OF UTAH
_____________________________________
XXXXX
Petitioner, :
v. : INFORMAL DECISION
:
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF THE : Appeal No. 88 1438
UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION, : Acct.
No. XXXXX
Respondent. :
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
is an appeal to the Utah State Tax Commission for reconsideration of Commission
decision denying a request for waiver of a penalty assessments on Petitioner's
XXXXX income tax return. Pursuant to
Utah Code Ann. §63-46b-5(1)(b) no hearing was held. A review of the Petitioner's file served as the evidentiary basis
for this decision.
Petitioner,
XXXXX, failed to file a timely personal income tax return for the year XXXXX
and was assessed late filing and payment penalties. Petitioner asserts that she was inadequately informed by the
Commission of penalties imposed for late filing and payment. Petitioner refers to the XXXXX tax
instruction booklet, page 3, that states the following:
"If your return is not timely filed it
will be subject to penalty and interest."
Petitioner
argues that since the amount of the penalty is not mentioned, it is unjust to
assess such a high penalty.
FINDINGS
Petitioner
overlooked the information located on page 7 of the XXXXX tax booklet which
states the following:
"If you fail to file your income tax
return or pay the tax by the prescribed
due date you must include a penalty equal to the greater of
$25.00 or 5% of the tax for each month late not to exceed 25% of the tax due. . . . [and]
you must include interest at the rate of 12% per
annum from the due date of the return. . . . Deficiency assessments may be
subject to a penalty which is the greater of $50.00 or 5% of the total amount of the deficiency
if the deficiency is due to
negligence. . . ."
In
XXXXX, the legislature changed the penalty structure to reflect the minimum
$$$$$ late payment penalty and minimum $$$$$ late filing penalty assessed
Petitioner's account. Unfortunately,
the tax instruction booklets were printed before the legislative changes were
made. Because Petitioner understandably relied upon information in the booklet,
it is only just that the penalty as set forth in the booklet should be assessed
Petitioner's account. Petitioner should
have been assessed a $$$$$ late filing penalty and a $$$$$ late payment
penalty.
DECISION AND ORDER
Based
on the foregoing, it is the Decision and Order of the Utah State Tax Commission
that the penalty assessed Petitioner's account be reduced from $$$$$ to $$$$$.
DATE
this 1 day of November, 1988.
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