BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
____________________________
In Re: ) FINDINGS OF FACT,
: CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW,
XXXXX ) AND FINAL DECISION
:
: Appeal No.
91-0700
: 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
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 periods in question are the third
quarter of XXXXX, and the first and second quarters of XXXXX.
3. Petitioner purchased an orthodontic practice
from XXXXX, in XXXXX. XXXXX had worked
for XXXXX, and continued at the same office to work for Petitioner after the
purchase had occurred. The individual
who had taken care of XXXXX tax matters instructed XXXXX as to how to handle
the tax matters, and told XXXXX that XXXXX had been filing sales taxes on a
yearly basis. This XXXXX continued to
do.
4. When Petitioner purchased the practice from
XXXXX, a new tax account was established for Petitioner. At this time the Tax Commission began
assessing Petitioner tax on a quarterly rather than a yearly basis.
5. Petitioner asserts that he never received
any notice of the requirement to file on a quarterly basis, nor did he receive
any quarterly sales tax returns for the periods in question from the Tax
Commission. Therefore, Petitioner filed
sales tax for the year XXXXX at the usual time, i.e., XXXXX.
6. Petitioner states that he does not remember
receiving any forms or instructions from the Tax Commission at the time he
established his new tax account with the Commission. The first that Petitioner became aware of the difficulty with the
account was on XXXXX, when Petitioner received a failure to file notice for the
periods in question. Petitioner
immediately called Tax Commission offices to inquire into the difficulty. This was the first indication, according to
Petitioner, that he was ever given of his quarterly filing status. The person at the Tax Commission with whom
Petitioner spoke said that she would send quarterly report forms to Petitioner,
which she did. Petitioner began
receiving these report forms in XXXXX, and has been filing quarterly tax
returns since that time.
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
Based
upon the above circumstances, the Tax Commission finds that reasonable cause has
been shown for a waiver of the penalty in this case. Interest, however, should
not be waived because the state was deprived of the use of the tax funds in
question for a period of time 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 Petitioner's
sales taxes for the third quarter of XXXXX, and the first and second quarters
of XXXXX. Interest is not waived, but
shall be adjusted to account for the waiver of the penalty. It is so ordered.
DATED
this 25th day of June, 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