BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_____________________________________
XXXXX
:
Petitioner : FINDINGS OF FACT
: CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW
: AND FINAL
DECISION
:
: Appeal No.
89-0870
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 the XXXXX before Joseph G. Linford, Presiding
Officer. Petitioner was present at the
hearing. No one representing the
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 individual income tax.
2.
The period in question is XXXXX.
3.
About the time the tax liability in question was incurred, Petitioner and his
wife were divorced. Petitioner thought
that his former wife had taken care of sending in the tax returns and the taxes
after he had signed the tax returns and sent them to her. However, evidently she has not done so.
4.
Several notices were sent to Petitioner's ex-wife regarding this tax liability
which were never forwarded to him by her and never otherwise taken care of by
her.
5.
Petitioner had no knowledge that this tax liability had not been paid until he
attempted to purchase a home in XXXXX.
6.
Consequently, Petitioner contacted the Tax Commission to take care of the
liability and also requested a waiver of penalties and interest.
7.
Petitioner has paid all amounts due for the period in question including tax,
penalties, and interest.
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 for the late
filing of tax returns. 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 and interest assessed under
the above statutes. Such reasonable
cause has been shown to waive the penalties in this case because of the
circumstances outlined above, it not being the fault of Petitioner that the
XXXXX tax liability was not taken care of as he had erroneously assumed. However, reasonable cause for the waiver of
the interest portion has not been shown in that the State was deprived for several
years of the use of these funds to which it was entitled and the assessment of
interest is therefore justified.
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 in this case be granted and
that Petitioner's request for waiver of interest be denied.
DATED
this 1st day of December, 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