BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_____________________________
XXXXX :
Petitioner, : FINDINGS OF FACT,
: CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW,
: AND FINAL
DECISION
v. :
COLLECTION
DIVISION OF THE : Appeal No. 91-1261
UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION, :
: Account
No. XXXXX
Respondent. :
______________________________
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 appeared for 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 sales tax.
2. The periods in question are the third
quarters of XXXXX and XXXXX.
3. Petitioner did not file its third quarter
XXXXX sales tax report by the due date of XXXXX. On XXXXX, Respondent estimated Petitioner's tax liability at
$$$$$ and assessed penalty in the amount of $$$$$, as well as interest. Respondent notified Petitioner of the foregoing
assessment of tax, penalty and interest, which Petitioner paid. However, on
XXXXX, Petitioner itself filed a sales tax return for the third quarter XXXXX,
thereby establishing a tax liability of $$$$$.
In light of Petitioner's increased tax liability, Respondent recomputed
the interest and penalties which had already been assessed against
Petitioner. The penalties, totaling
20%, were later reduced to 10% by Commission action.
2. Petitioner's third quarter XXXXX sales tax
report was due on XXXXX, but was not submitted until XXXXX. The report, when filed, established a sales
tax liability of $$$$$ which was not paid until XXXXX. Interest and a 10% late payment penalty were
assessed against Petitioner.
3. Petitioner's failure to properly file and
pay its third quarter XXXXX and XXXXX sales tax liability was due to the lack
of expertise of its employees. Also,
with respect to the third quarter XXXXX, Petitioner failed to pay the tax due
with its return because of lack of funds.
Petitioner has since employed experienced personnel to insure that
future tax liability is properly reported and paid.
4. Commission records indicate penalties were
previously imposed against Petitioner with respect to its third quarter XXXXX
and second quarter XXXXX sales tax liability.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Utah
law authorizes imposition of a 10% penalty for late filing of sales tax
returns. An additional 10% penalty is
imposed for late payment of any tax liability.
[Utah Code Ann. §59-1-401(1).]
The
Tax Commission is granted authority to waive, reduce, or compromise penalties
and interest upon a showing of reasonable cause. [Utah Code Ann. §59-1-401(8).]
DECISION AND ORDER
The
Petitioner admits its failure to properly report and pay its sales tax
liability for the third quarters of XXXXX and XXXXX. It attributes its failure to a lack of competent personnel, and
asserts that it has taken steps to correct the problem in the future. However, Commission records indicate that
Petitioner has failed to properly file and/or pay its sales tax liabilities on
at least two occasions prior to the quarters in question. The Commission also notes that Petitioner
has been granted a partial waiver in this matter, reducing the penalty assessed
on the third quarter of XXXXX from $$$$$ to $$$$$.
Based
on the foregoing, the Commission finds insufficient reason to further reduce
the penalty assessed against Petitioner for the third quarters of XXXXX and
XXXXX.
Petitioner's
request for waiver is therefore denied.
It is so ordered.
DATED
this 25th day of March, 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