BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_______________________________
In Re: ) FINDINGS OF FACT,
: CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW,
XXXXX ) AND FINAL DECISION
:
: Appeal No.
91-1301
: Account
No. XXXXX
__________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
matter came before the Utah State Tax Commission for a formal hearing on
XXXXX. G. Blaine Davis, Administrative
Law Judge and Presiding Officer, heard 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 withholding tax.
2. The periods in question are the first, third
and fourth quarters of XXXXX.
3. The Petitioner requests a waiver of the
penalty and interest associated with the late filing and late payment of the
payroll withholding returns for the stated quarters. They were not filed and paid until XXXXX.
4. The position of the Petitioner is that many
of the records were destroyed when a XXXXX was burned in XXXXX after someone
had first broken into the XXXXX and destroyed much of the equipment and
records.
5. The witnesses for Petitioner also state that
Petitioner has received no prior notice of the delinquency until XXXXX,
although they acknowledge that they were not the persons who would have
received those notices in XXXXX or XXXXX.
6. The witnesses for Petitioner feel that the
loss of those records in the later years is important, because they feel that
some checks were written two times and they may have been required to pay the
same tax twice, but they do not have any evidence of that issue, and it clearly
amounts to speculation on their part.
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
The
Petitioner has not shown any probability that the amount of tax assessed
against them is not correct. In
addition, the destruction of some of the records more than two years after the
delinquent returns were due and unpaid is not a factor to consider in waiving
the penalty.
Based
upon the foregoing, the Tax Commission finds that sufficient cause has not been
shown which would justify a waiver of the penalty and interest associated with
the first, third and fourth quarters of XXXXX.
It is so ordered.
DATED
this 6th day o December, 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