BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
______________________________
In Re: ) FINDINGS OF FACT,
: CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW,
XXXXX ) AND FINAL DECISION
:
: Appeal No.
91-0936
: Account
No. XXXXX
__________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
matter came before the Utah State Tax Commission for a formal hearing on XXXXX.
Alan Hennebold, Presiding Officer, heard the matter for and on behalf of the
Commission. XXXXX, Manager of
Petitioner's Tax Department, participated by telephone on behalf of Petitioner.
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 XXXXX production
withholding tax.
2. The period in question is the second
quarter, XXXXX.
3. Prior to XXXXX, Petitioner's mineral
production business was done through a XXXXX company. Thereafter, Petitioner disbanded the XXXXX company and
incorporated its XXXXX interests with its other business activities. Consequently, Petitioner has itself been
responsible for filing and paying XXXXX production withholding tax since XXXXX.
4. Petitioner did not receive a XXXXX
withholding tax report form for the period in question, which report was due by
XXXXX. In XXXXX, Petitioner adapted a
different tax form and used the adapted form to report and pay the XXXXX
withholding tax due.
5. Because Petitioner's tax report was not
received by the filing deadline of XXXXX, a 10% late filing penalty of $$$$$
was assessed against Petitioner, together with associated interest. The Commission later reduced the penalty to
$$$$$.
6. During the years prior to XXXXX,
Petitioner's subsidiary company was frequently late in filing its XXXXX
withholding tax reports. The reports
have been filed and paid on time since Petitioner assumed responsibility in
XXXXX, except for the period now in question.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
The
Tax Commission is granted the authority to waive, reduce, or compromise penalties
and interest upon a showing of reasonable cause. (Utah Code Ann. §59-1-401(8).)
DECISION AND ORDER
Under
Utah's statutes governing XXXXX production withholding tax (Chapter 6, Title
59, Utah Code Ann.) Petitioner must
file and pay XXXXX withholding tax on a quarterly basis. Petitioner's report and tax payment due on
XXXXX was not received until XXXXX resulting in a 10% late filing penalty of
$$$$$. The Commission has since reduced
that penalty to $$$$$.
In
requesting that the remaining $$$$$ penalty be waived, Petitioner points to its
history of compliance with the requirements of the XXXXX production withholding
tax. Petitioner also points out that it
did not receive the tax report form, and was therefore forced to use a
different report form. While the points raised by Petitioner are mitigating
factors, they are not a complete excuse for Petitioner's failure to file its
mineral withholding tax report on time.
The Commission has already taken such mitigating factors into account in
its previous decision to reduce the penalty from $$$$$ to $$$$$.
Based
upon the foregoing, the Tax Commission finds that sufficient cause has not been
shown which would justify a further reduction of the penalty assessed against
Petitioner for the period in question.
It is so ordered.
DATED
this 9th day of July, 1992.
BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION.
R. H. Hansen Roger
O. Tew
Chairman Commissioner
Joe B.
Pacheco S.
Blaine Willes
Commissioner Commissioner