BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
____________________________________
XXXXX,
Petitioner, :
v. : INFORMAL DECISION
:
: Appeal No.
90-0998
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF THE :
UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION, :
: Account
No. XXXXX
Respondent. :
____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
is an appeal to the Utah State Tax Commission requesting waiver of penalty and
interest assessment on Petitioner's sales and use tax return for the second quarter
of 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.
This
was the first quarter for which Petitioner was required to make a sales tax
prepayment and Petitioner states that it was confused by the requirement and
mistakenly paid it after the deadline.
By letter dated XXXXX, the Tax Commission waived all penalties in the
case, leaving the remaining balance of interest due of $$$$$. Petitioner has already paid the tax amount
of $$$$$. Petitioner now requests a
waiver of the interest, stating that the interest is assessed on the penalty,
and since the penalty has been waived, the interest should also be waived.
FINDINGS
Utah
Code Ann. §§59-1-401 and59-1-402 provide that penalties and interest shall be
assessed for the late payment and filing of taxes. Utah Code Ann. §59-1-401(8) provides that upon reasonable cause
shown, the Tax Commission may waive or reduce penalties assessed under the
above statutes.
Such
reasonable cause has not been shown in this case. When payments are made to the Tax Commission, they are first
applied, as in this instance, to the penalty, then to interest, and then to the
tax amount. This leaves an amount of
tax still owing upon which interest continues to accrue. Therefore, some interest on the tax amount
is due and payable.
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 interest is denied. It is
also ordered that the interest amount shall be recalculated to take into
account the waiver of the previous penalty if not already recalculated. It is so ordered.
DATED
this 20 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