BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_____________________________________
XXXXX
:
Petitioner : FINDINGS OF FACT,
: CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW,
v. : AND FINAL DECISION
:
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF THE : Appeal No. 89-2706
UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION : Account
No. XXXXX
:
Respondent :
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
matter came before the Utah State Tax Commission for a formal hearing on
XXXXX. Joseph G. Linford, Presiding
Officer, heard the matter for and on behalf of the Commission. Present and representing the Petitioner was
XXXXX, Certified Public Accountant.
Based
upon the evidence and testimony presented at the hearing, the Tax Commission
hereby makes its:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1.
The tax in question is individual income tax.
2.
The periods in question are the tax years XXXXX,
XXXXX, and XXXXX.
3.
The tax deficiency in Petitioner's income tax for the periods in question was
discovered by an IRS audit in late XXXXX.
The IRS agent doing the audit made several mistakes in the original
audit and it took more than one year for the Petitioner and the IRS to resolve
the errors and for a correct audit to be completed.
4.
During this period of time, the state of Utah made its tax assessment based
upon the original, incorrect IRS audit report.
This assessment has since been corrected.
5.
Petitioner stated that when he received notices from the Tax Commission
concerning the payment of these taxes, he made several phone calls and sent
several letters to the Tax Commission in an effort to resolve the problem. He does not have copies of these letters nor
does he recall to whom he spoke when he called the Tax Commission except for
one person, XXXXX. Petitioner alleges
that he spoke with Mr. XXXXX on the telephone and also met with him once.
6.
Petitioner has since paid the tax and interest amounts and feels that the late
payment penalties should be waived because of the delay of the IRS in
completing the audit.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1.
Utah Code Ann. §§59-1-401 and59-1-402 provide that penalty and interest shall
be assessed for the late payment and filing of taxes.
2.
The Tax Commission is granted the authority to waive, reduce, or compromise
penalties and interest upon a showing of reasonable cause. (Utah Code Ann. §59-1-401(8).)
3.
Such reasonable cause has not been shown in this case. The late penalty was assessed because of
Petitioner's failure to pay the deficient amount of tax at the proper time for
the year in question. This has no
connection with how long it took the IRS to complete their audit. The late payment penalty relates to Petitioner's
failure to timely pay the full amount due whether by oversight or otherwise at
the time his taxes were due for each of the years in question.
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 penalty is denied. It is so
ordered.
DATED
this 20th day of August, 1990.
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