BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_____________________________________
XXXXX,
Petitioner, :
:
v. : INFORMAL, DECISION
: Appeal No.
89-2482
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF :
THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION, : Acct
No. XXXXX
Respondent. :
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
is an appeal to the Utah State Tax Commission requesting waiver of the penalty
and interest assessment on Petitioner's third quarter XXXXX sales tax
return. Pursuant to Utah Code Ann.
§63-46b-5t(1)(b,j) no hearing was held. A review of Petitioner's file served as
the evidentiary basis for this decision.
In
XXXXX, Petitioner applied for a sales tax license and was issued sales tax
number XXXXX. By the first of XXXXX,
Petitioner had not received any forms for the payment of sales tax. He therefore contacted the Utah State Tax
Commission offices and was told that forms would be sent. As of the first week of XXXXX, no forms had
arrived so Petitioner contacted the Tax Commission offices again. This time he was told that he was not listed
in the computer but that the problem would be taken care of and the forms would
be sent to him. As of the third week of
XXXXX, Petitioner still had not received any forms so he again called the Tax
Commission offices. He was told then
that hand written and computer forms would be sent to him. Petitioner then asked if there would be a
problem due to late filing and was told there would be no problem. He was told that penalty might be
automatically added but to request a waiver and such penalty would be dropped
because of the difficulties with the computer.
During
the first half of XXXXX, Petitioner received three sets of forms, two
handwritten and one a computer printed form. Petitioner filled out the computer form and sent it in with his
tax payment. This process took
Petitioner approximately a week from the time he received the forms. Petitioner at this time paid only the amount
of the tax assessed. During the first
part of the year XXXXX, Petitioner received notices of penalties being assessed
and Petitioner requested waiver of such penalties as he was instructed in
XXXXX.
On
XXXXX, Petitioner received a notice that his request for waiver of penalties
and interest had been denied. Within a
week he appealed that decision to the Appeals Section of the Utah State Tax
Commission.
The
period in question, the third quarter of XXXXX, was the first quarter for which
Petitioner's business filed sales tax returns.
FINDINGS
Utah
Code Ann. §§59-1-401 and59-1-402 provide that penalties and interest shall be
assessed for the late payment and late filing of sales taxes. Utah Code Ann.
§59-1-401(8) provides that the Tax Commission may upon reasonable cause shown
waive penalties and interest assessed under the above statutes.
Such
reasonable cause has been shown in this case.
Petitioner did have the duty to follow up himself when he found that
proper forms had not been sent for the filing of his sales tax return. Petitioner fulfilled this duty, contacting
the Tax Commission several times in an effort to timely obtain the forms
necessary and finally receiving those forms late through no fault of his
own. Petitioner filed and paid the
taxes as soon as possible after receiving the forms.
ORDER
Based
upon the foregoing, it is the decision and order of the Utah State Tax
Commission that the Petitioner's request be granted, and penalties and interest
be waived.
DATED
this 9th day of March, 1990.
BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION.
FOR THE COMMISSION
G. Blaine
Davis
Commissioner