BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_____________________________________
XXXXX )
:
Petitioner, ) FINDINGS OF FACT
: CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW
v. ) AND FINAL DECISION
:
) Appeal No.
89-0311
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF THE :
UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION )
: Acct No.
XXXXX
Respondent. )
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
matter came before the Utah State Tax Commission pursuant to the Utah Rules of
Administrative Procedure and the Administrative Procedures Act for formal
adjudicative proceedings on XXXXX before Joseph G. Linford, Presiding
Officer. Petitioner was represented by
XXXXX who is Petitioner's President. No
one representing Respondent appeared at the hearing.
After
reviewing the evidence and arguments of the parties and the recommendation of
the Presiding Officer, the Tax Commission hereby makes its
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The tax in question is sales tax.
2. The period in question is January XXXXX to
June XXXXX.
3. During the periods in question, an employee
of Petitioner who was responsible for paying the sales taxes in question did
not pay those sales taxes but instead appropriated the money to that employee's
own use, apparently along with substantial additional amounts of Petitioner's
money, perhaps up to $$$$$.
4. At the time the sales taxes were due for the
first quarter of XXXXX, that employee told the Petitioner that the sales taxes
for that quarter had been paid when, in fact, they had not. During the second quarter of XXXXX,
Petitioner discovered its employee's embezzlement. However, because of the substantial amounts of money stolen,
Petitioner was totally unable to pay taxes for either the first or the second quarter
of XXXXX.
5. All the taxes plus interest have since been
paid in full and the Petitioner now requests a waiver of the penalty amount
since the circumstances which resulted in the late payment of Petitioner's
sales taxes were beyond the Petitioner's control.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Utah
Code Ann. §§ 59-1 401,59-12-107(19), and59-12-111 (1987 Rep., 1989 Supp.)
provide that penalties shall be assessed for the late payment of sales taxes.
Utah Code Ann. §59-1-401(8) (1987 Rep., 1989 Supp.) provides that upon
reasonable cause shown the Tax Commission may waive or reduce penalties
assessed under the above statutes. Such
reasonable cause has been shown in this case due to the fact that the taxes in
question were not paid because of circumstances beyond Petitioner's control.
DECISION AND ORDER
Based
on the foregoing, it is the decision and order of the Utah State Tax Commission
that Petitioner's request for waiver of penalties be granted.
DATED
this 5th day of October, 1989.
BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION.
ABSENT
R. H. Hansen Roger O. Tew
Chairman Commissioner
Joe B.
Pacheco G.
Blaine Davis
Commissioner Commissioner