BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
_____________________________________
XXXXX, )
Petitioners, : ORDER
v. :
AUDITING
DIVISION OF THE : Appeal No. 91-1380
UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION, : Account
No. XXXXX
Respondent. :
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
matter came before the Utah State Tax Commission pursuant to a document
captioned "Petitioners Response to Order of Default and Request for an
Injunctive Order to Vacate". The
Commission shall treat the document as the Petitioners Request for
Reconsideration of the Commission's Order of Default dated XXXXX.
FINDINGS
1. Utah State Tax Commission Administrative
Rule R861-1A-5-1P provides that a Petition for Reconsideration "will
allege as grounds for reconsideration either a mistake in law or fact, or the
discovery of new evidence". Under
this rule, the Tax Commission may exercise its discretion in granting or
denying a Petition for Reconsideration.
2. On XXXXX, a prehearing conference was held
on this matter. Although duly notified
of the time, date and place of the prehearing conference, the Petitioners
failed to appear.
3. On XXXXX the Commission entered its Order of
Default against the Petitioners for their failure to appear at the prehearing
conference.
4. On XXXXX the Appeals Section of the Utah
State Tax Commission received a document from the Petitioners captioned "Motion
for Dismissal of Notice of Prehearing Conference". Such a document was not served upon nor
received by the Appeals Section prior to XXXXX.
5. In the "Motion for Dismissal of Notice
of Prehearing Conference" the Petitioners requested a dismissal of the
Notice of Prehearing Conference claiming that such notice was in violation of
Utah Code Ann. §59-1-210 and
63-456-1(B)[sic].
6. No ruling was made upon the Petitioners
Motion, nor were the Petitioners excused from attending the scheduled
prehearing conference.
7. In its "Petitioners Response to Order
of Default and Request for an Injunctive Order to Vacate" the Petitioners
requested that the Order of Default be vacated claiming that the issuance of
the Order of Default was improper in light of the Petitioners prior
Motion. This document was not filed
with the Appeals Section. A copy of the
document was provided by the Attorney General's office.
DECISION AND ORDER
In
the present case, the Petitioners were duly notified of the prehearing
conference and of the possible consequence of having a default judgment entered
against them if they failed to appear.
At
no time were the Petitioners excused from attending the prehearing conference
nor did the Petitioners "Motion for Dismissal of Notice of Prehearing
Conference" excuse them from attending the prehearing conference. Indeed, the Petitioners failed to properly
file that document with the Appeals Section prior to the date of the prehearing
conference.
The
Petitioners have consistently shown an unwillingness to comply with proper
appeal procedure and must bear the consequences for their failure to do so.
Based
upon the foregoing, it is the decision of the Utah State Tax Commission that
the Petitioners Response to Order of Default and Request for an Injunctive
Order to Vacate is denied. It is so
ordered.
DATED
this 25 day of February, 1992.
BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION.
R. H. Hansen Roger
O. Tew
Chairman Commissioner
ABSENT
Joe B.
Pacheco S.
Blaine Willes
Commissioner Commissioner