BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_____________________________________
In Re: : INFORMAL DECISION
XXXXX ) Appeal No. 91-0910
: Account
No. XXXXX
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
matter came before the Utah State Tax Commission pursuant to the Administrative
Procedures Act and the rules of the Utah State Tax Commission for informal
proceedings. No hearing was requested,
therefore, this decision is based upon information contained in the Tax
Commission's file.
FINDINGS
The
Petitioner timely filed an extension request for his XXXXX individual income
tax return, but did not pay any amount with the request for extension. Petitioner thereafter timely filed his
income tax return within the extension period, and paid the amount of $$$$$ for
the income taxes which were due.
For
XXXXX, the Petitioner did not owe any state income taxes, and for XXXXX, the
Petitioner's income taxes were $$$$$ for the State of Utah.
The
Petitioner's accountant represents that prior to the filing deadline he made
numerous attempts to contact the Petitioner, but was unable to make contact
prior to the time when he filed the extension request. Said accountant also represents that the
Petitioner was in poor health and was not aware that he would owe any income tax
prior to the time the tax return was completed in XXXXX.
Section
59-1-401 imposes a penalty when the taxpayer has failed to pay at least 80% of
the total tax reported on the tax return with the extension, or fails to pay
the total amount of tax assessed on the tax return for the previous tax period. In this case, if the taxpayer had paid the
sum of $$$$$, the amount of the prior year's income tax, there would have been
no penalty imposed. The penalty imposed
was in the amount of $$$$$, plus interest.
The
Internal Revenue Service also imposed a penalty, but has waived the penalty
which assessed.
DECISION AND ORDER
Based
upon the poor health of the Petitioner and upon the minimal amount of tax which
had been owed for prior years, the Commission finds that reasonable cause
exists to waive the penalty.
The
petition for waiver of the penalty is thereby granted, but the petition for
waiver of the interest is denied. It is
so ordered
DATED
this 19 day of July, 1991.
BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION.
R. H. Hansen Roger
O. Tew
Chairman Commissioner
Joe B.
Pacheco S.
Blaine Willes
Commissioner Commissioner