BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_________________________________
In Re: )
:
XXXXX ) FINDINGS OF FACT,
: CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW,
: AND FINAL
DECISION
: Appeal No.
91-1370
_________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
matter came before the Utah State Tax Commission for a formal hearing on
XXXXX. G. Blaine Davis, Administrative
Law Judge, Presiding Officer, heard the matter for and on behalf of the
Commission. Present and representing
the Petitioner on the telephone was XXXXX, Vice President/Finance and
Treasurer, for the company.
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 period in question is the fourth quarter
of XXXXX.
3. In late XXXXX, the lady who was in charge of
the XXXXX for the company left her employment and there was no one else in the
company with sufficient knowledge to extract from the computer the information
which was necessary to file the return.
4. In early XXXXX, the company attempted to
retrieve the year end information necessary to file the fourth quarter sales
tax return, together with numerous other year end activities, but they were
unable to accomplish it.
5. When they were unable to retrieve the
information, they retained a consultant to come in and help them recovery the
information.
6. Even with the numerous problems retrieving
the information, the return was filed within XXXXX days of the due date.
7. Although the information received with the
original waiver request worksheet indicated that there may have been other late
filings, the computer printout does not indicate any other late filings going
back as far as XXXXX.
8. Petitioner acknowledges that the return was
a few days late, and further acknowledges a willingness to pay the interest on
the money for the time after the due date until the money was paid, but
requests that the penalty be waived because they were putting forth a good
faith effort and were doing everything within their abilities to try to file
the return timely.
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 relatively short delinquency and the efforts put forth by the
Petitioner to try to file the return timely, and the unusual circumstance of
the person in charge of that department resigning just prior to the end of the
period, the penalty should be waived.
Based
upon the foregoing, the Tax Commission finds that sufficient cause has been
shown which would justify a waiver of the penalty associated with the fourth
quarter of XXXXX, but the interest should not be waived. It is so ordered.
DATED
this 6th day of 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