BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
____________________________________
In Re: ) FINDINGS OF FACT,
: CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW,
XXXXX ) AND FINAL DECISION
:
: Appeal No.
90-1585
: Account
No. XXXXX
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
matter came before the Utah State Tax Commission for a formal telephone 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.
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 period in question is the tax year
XXXXX.
3. Petitioner underpaid his income tax for the
year in question because of the disallowance by the Tax Commission of some of
the adjustments included on Petitioner's timely filed return for that period.
4. In XXXXX Petitioner received two notices of
delinquent taxes, one listing his social security number and another listing a
different social security number.
Petitioner contacted the Tax Commission regarding this, and the tax,
penalty, and interest amounts at issue in this case were determined for the
period in question. In checking further
with the Tax Commission, Petitioner was informed that his XXXXX tax return had
been filed by the Tax Commission under the wrong social security number and the
error had not been noticed until a recent audit, upon which the XXXXX notice
was mailed to the Petitioner. Prior to
this time Petitioner was unaware that any additional tax was due for the period
in question.
5. Petitioner received a notice of taxes due
dated XXXXX, which indicated additional amounts for XXXXX and XXXXX but not for
XXXXX, the year in question. Petitioner
stated that in XXXXX he also received a tax notice, and in checking with the
Tax Commission was told that there was nothing owing at that time.
6. Based upon the above facts, Petitioner
requests the penalty and interest to be waived.
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
It
appears that much of the confusion in this case was caused by the misfiling of
Petitioner's tax return for the year in question by Tax Commission
personnel. This occurred through no
fault of Petitioner. In fact,
Petitioner apparently made several attempts to determine the amount of taxes
due for this and other periods and was given erroneous information on the
period in question.
Based
on these facts, the penalty should be waived and interest should be reduced to
the point at which Petitioner should have been notified of the XXXXX
underpayment. A reasonable time for Petitioner
to have been so notified would have been XXXXX, the date of the tax notice
which notified Petitioner of taxes due for XXXXX and XXXXX but not for the
XXXXX period in question.
Based
upon the foregoing, the Tax Commission finds that sufficient cause has been
shown which would justify a waiver of the penalty and a reduction of the
interest to the amount that Petitioner would have paid if the period in
question were included on the XXXXX tax notice. It is so ordered.
DATED
this 8th day of February, 1991.
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