BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_____________________________________
XXXXX
Petitioner, :
v. : INFORMAL DECISION
:
: Appeal No.
89-1459
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF THE :
STATE TAX
COMMISSION OF UTAH, )
: Account
No. XXXXX
Respondent. :
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
matter came before the Utah State Tax Commission pursuant to the Rules of
Administrative Procedure and the Administrative Procedures Act for informal
proceedings. No hearing was requested,
therefore, the matter was conducted by review of the file before the Tax
Commission.
On
XXXXX the Commission received the Utah sales tax application form which had been
submitted by the Petitioner. The
application form was signed by XXXXX and dated XXXXX. Based upon the information contained on that application a
liability date of XXXXX was established.
A
sales tax certificate and number were sent to the Petitioner on XXXXX. Because the Petitioner did not have the
certificate or number prior to that date, the quarterly sales tax returns for
the second and third quarters of XXXXX were not filed on time.
The
Petitioner was assessed a penalty of $$$$$ for failure to timely file and
failure to timely pay the taxes due for the second and third quarters of XXXXX.
DECISION AND ORDER
In
the present case, had the Petitioner submitted his application for a sales tax
license on XXXXX which was the date the application was signed, there would
have been a good likelihood that the license would have been issued to the
Petitioner in time for it to file the quarterly sales tax for the second
quarter of XXXXX. As it was, the
Petitioner did not submit that application until XXXXX, and the sales tax
license was mailed three months later.
Therefore, the Petitioner had been collecting sales tax for three months
without a sales tax license and without even filing an application for a sales
tax license. Once a person commences
business and collects sales tax, that person has a responsibility to become
familiar with the sales tax laws, including the filing and payment
requirements. The sales tax money
collected was required to be remitted even if the business had not yet received
the forms or a sales tax number.
However, because of the length of time it took for the Commission to
send a license and forms after the date the application was finally submitted,
the Commission finds just cause to reduce the penalty to $$$$$.
Based
on the foregoing, the Commission finds sufficient cause exists to reduce the
penalty associated with the sales tax for the second and third quarters of
XXXXX to an amount of $$$$$. The
interest is not waived. It is so
ordered.
DATED
this 29th day of December, 1989.
BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION.
FOR THE COMMISSION
G. Blaine
Davis
Commissioner