BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_____________________________________
In Re: ) FINDINGS OF FACT,
: CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW,
XXXXX ) AND FINAL DECISION
:
: Appeal No.
90-1445
: Account
No. XXXXX
_____________________________________
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 were
XXXXX and XXXXX.
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 sales tax.
2. The period in question is the third quarter
of XXXXX.
3. Petitioner completed and mailed its sales
tax return and included with it Petitioner's check number XXXXX in the amount
of the tax in question on XXXXX.
Petitioner's representative, XXXXX, testified that she personally mailed
the tax return and check timely and that she ran it through Petitioner's mail
meter and put it with Petitioner's other mail to be processed that day.
4. In XXXXX, Petitioner became aware that check
number XXXXX had not been cashed and immediately contacted the Tax
Commission. This was before any action
by the Tax Commission to collect the delinquent taxes. Petitioner was informed that the Tax
Commission did not have record of the payment being received. Petitioner does not know why the payment was
not received since Petitioner had mailed it timely. Immediately after contacting the Tax Commission, Petitioner
placed a stop payment order on check number XXXXX and thereafter issued check
number XXXXX for the tax amount and immediately remitted the same to the Tax
Commission with a copy of the return for the period in question.
5. Petitioner requests that all penalty and
interest charges be waived since the misplacement of Petitioner's original
return and check was an occurrence beyond Petitioner's control.
6. By letter dated XXXXX, the Tax Commission
reduced the penalty amount from $$$$$ to $$$$$.
7. Petitioner has submitted a bank statement
covering the time period during which the original check number XXXXX was
issued, which shows that Petitioner had sufficient funds in its checking
account to cover that check.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
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).)
DECISION AND ORDER
Since
the circumstances which led to the untimely payment were beyond Petitioner's
control, the waiver of the penalty is appropriate. Interest, however, should not be waived since the state was
deprived of the use of the tax funds in question for a period of time through
no fault of its own and should be compensated for that loss of use.
Based
upon the foregoing, the Tax Commission finds that sufficient cause has been
shown which would justify a waiver of the penalty associated with the third
quarter of XXXXX. Interest shall be
adjusted to account for waiver of the penalty.
It is so ordered.
DATED
this 8th day of February, 1991.
BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION.
R. H. Hansen Roger
O. Tew
Chairman Commissioner
Joe B.
Pacheco G.
Blaine Davis
Commissioner Commissioner