BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_____________________________________
XXXXX, )
Petitioner, ) FINDINGS OF FACT,
) CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW
v. ) AND FINAL DECISION
)
)
) Appeal No.
89-0527
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.
No
one representing either the Petitioner nor the Respondent appeared at the
hearing. This decision is accordingly
based on a review of the file.
After
reviewing the evidence and arguments of parties and the recommendation of the
Presiding Officer, the Tax Commission hereby makes its
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The tax in question is individual income
tax.
2. The period in question is XXXXX.
3. The amount of taxes due on Petitioner's
XXXXX tax return were not paid in full until XXXXX. At that time, he also requested that the penalties and interest
assessed for the late payment of his taxes and the late filing of the tax
returns be waived. Petitioner based
this request for waiver on the fact that his records were "in a shambles"
because of his move to California and his preoccupation in beginning his career
there.
4. Petitioner also asserts that he should not
be required to pay the interest accrued since XXXXX, the date he requested the
waiver of penalty and interest, to XXXXX, the date the Tax Commission informed
him of the denial of his request for waiver, because of the long delay between
those two dates. Petitioner asserts
that this delay was the fault of the Tax Commission and, therefore, Petitioner
should not have to pay the interest accrued during that amount of time. However, Petitioner also does not allege
that he took any responsibility to follow up with the Tax Commission during
that period of time in order to see what was occurring regarding his request for
waiver. Petitioner also did not avail
himself of the option to pay the entire amount--taxes, penalty, and
interest--under protest and then file his request for waiver, which if granted
would have refunded the amounts of penalty and/or interest that had accrued
before such full payment. If Petitioner
had done this at an earlier date, interest would not have been accruing over
the subsequent period of time.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Utah
Code Ann. §§59-1-401 and59-1-402 (1987 Rep., 1989 Supp.) provide that penalties
and interest shall be assessed for the late payment of taxes and the late
filing of tax returns. Utah Code Ann.
§59-1-401(8) (1987 Rep., 1989 Supp.) provides that the Commission may upon
reasonable cause shown waive or reduce penalties and interest assessed under
the above statutes. Such reasonable
cause has not been shown in this case in that Petitioner did pay his taxes very
late and Petitioner has not shown any other sufficient cause under the above
facts to merit a waiver of the penalties and interest assessed.
DECISION AND ORDER
Based
upon the foregoing, it is the decision and order of the Utah State Tax
Commission that Petitioner's request for waiver of penalties and interest is
hereby denied.
DATED
this 5th day of October, 1989.
BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION.
R. H. Hansen Roger
O. Tew
Chairman Commissioner
Joe B.
Pacheco G.
Blaine Davis
Commissioner Commissioner