BEFORE THE STATE TAX
COMMISSION OF UTAH
_____________________________________
XXXXX
Petitioner, :
v. : INFORMAL DECISION
:
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF THE : Appeal No. 88 1496
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 a waiver of a penalty and interest
assessment on Petitioners' XXXXX personal income tax return. Pursuant to Utah Code Ann. §
63-46b--5(1)(b), no hearing was held. A
review of Petitioners' file served as the evidentiary basis for this decision.
Petitioners,
XXXXX, filed a timely XXXXX income tax return but failed to include the tax due
with the return. Petitioners were told
by their accountant that the Tax Commission would notify them of the actual
amount due. In XXXXX, Petitioners
contacted the Commission because they had not received any notice regarding
their tax. Petitioners were informed by
the Commission that their account had been assessed a penalty and interest for
failure to pay the tax when their return was filed. Petitioners were also told that payment of the tax, a $$$$$ penalty,
and interest would clear their account.
Petitioners remitted the amount due and assumed the matter had been
taken care of.
Petitioners
moved from the state during, XXXXX and in XXXXX filed a Utah part-year resident
return and subsequently received a refund on that return. Sometime after that
Petitioners received notice that additional penalty and interest charges had
been assessed for XXXXX. Petitioners
believed there was an error and appealed the assessment. A review of Petitioners' XXXXX account shows
a zero balance.
FINDINGS
Petitioners'
account was rightfully assessed a penalty for failure to remit the tax due with
the return pursuant to Utah Code Ann. §59-1-401(2)(a). Although technically
Petitioner could be liable for a late payment penalty as well (although there
is a question regarding the actual date the Petitioners remitted the tax due),
because Petitioner relied upon information received from the Tax Commission
regarding the amount due on their account, and because the account still shows
a zero balance, reasonable cause for a waiver of a late penalty has been shown.
DECISION AND ORDER
Based
on the foregoing, it is the decision of the Commission that the request for
waiver of the additional penalty and interest assessments be granted.
DATED
this 27 day of September, 1988.