BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
______________________________
XXXXX
Petitioner, :
: INFORMAL
DECISION
v. :
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF THE : Appeal No. 90-0596
UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION :
Respondent. : Account No. XXXXX
________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
is an appeal to the Utah State Tax Commission requesting waiver of penalty and
interest assessment on Petitioner's sales tax liability for the fourth quarter
XXXXX. Pursuant to Utah Code Ann.
§63-46b-5(1)(b,j) no hearing was held.
A review of Petitioner's file served as the evidentiary basis for this
decision.
Petitioner
mailed the sales tax return for the period in question from the XXXXX on
XXXXX. The tax return envelope, however,
shows a XXXXX postmark dated XXXXX. In
talking with XXXXX employees, Petitioner has gained information that when the
XXXXX gets more mail than it can handle efficiently, that mail is often trucked
to XXXXX to be postmarked and processed since the XXXXX does not have automated
equipment. Petitioner feels that this
may explain why the letter received a late XXXXX postmark rather than a timely
XXXXX one.
By
letter dated XXXXX from the Tax Commission, the penalty was reduced to $$$$$
from $$$$$.
FINDINGS
Utah
Code Ann. §§59-l-401 and 59-l-402 provide that penalty and interest shall be
assessed for the late filing and payment of taxes. Utah Code Ann. §59-l-401(8) provides that upon reasonable cause
shown, the Tax Commission may waive or reduce penalty or interest assessed
under the above statutes.
Such
reasonable cause has been shown for waiver of the penalty and interest
assessed. It appears that the return
was mailed timely and the fact that it was postmarked and delivered untimely
was not the fault of the Petitioner and was beyond the Petitioner's control.
DECISION AND ORDER
Based
upon the foregoing facts, it is the decision and order of the Utah State Tax
Commission that Petitioner's request for waiver of penalty and interest is
granted.
DATED
this 8 day of August, 1990.
BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION.
R. H. Hansen Roger
O. Tew
Chairman Commissioner
Joe B.
Pacheco G.
Blaine Davis
Commissioner Commissioner