BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX
COMMISSION
______________________________
XXXXX : FINDINGS OF FACT,
Petitioner, : CONCLUSIONS OF LAW,
: AND FINAL
DECISION
v. :
:
AUDITING
DIVISION OF THE : Appeal No. 91-1572
UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION, :
: Account
No. XXXXX
Respondent. :
________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
The
parties, through counsel, have submitted this matter to the Utah State Tax
Commission for decision based upon the parties' Stipulation of Facts and
respective memoranda.
Based
upon the parties' stipulation, the Tax Commission hereby makes its:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The tax involved is corporate franchise tax.
2. The periods in question are XXXXX and XXXXX.
3. Petitioner incurred a net loss for calendar
year XXXXX.
4. Petitioner carried the loss forward to
Petitioner's XXXXX and XXXXX tax years both on its federal and state income tax
returns.
5. In XXXXX, Petitioner incurred a net
loss. The net loss was carried forward
to Petitioner's XXXXX and XXXXX tax years on both its federal and state
returns.
6. Utah Code Ann. §59-7-108(14)(c) sets forth the
provisions for handling loss carry backs for state tax purposes.
7. Federal and State law treat NOL operating
losses differently. Internal Revenue Code §172(b)(3) allows a net operating
loss to be carried forward or to be carried back, at the election of the
taxpayer.
8. The statute of limitations for claiming a
loss carry back refund for the XXXXX loss ran XXXXX.
9. The statute of limitations for Petitioner's
XXXXX tax return ran on XXXXX.
10. Utah Code Ann. §59-7-127 states that returns
will be examined as soon as practicable after they are filed.
11. The Auditing Division admits that in some
cases returns are not selected for audit or are not examined until after the
statute of limitations for loss carryback claims has expired.
12. XXXXX, Senior Auditor, pulled Petitioner's
XXXXX return from the files together with a block of returns to be examined on
XXXXX.
13. The returns were given to XXXXX to
review. XXXXX made an initial
examination of the records and ordered copies of Petitioner's returns back to
XXXXX sometime between XXXXX and XXXXX.
14. On XXXXX, XXXXX wrote up his audit results.
15. The audit made adjustments to apply the
XXXXX loss first to Petitioner's XXXXX, XXXXX and XXXXX returns, even though
the statute of limitations had closed those years to any claim for refund by
the Petitioner. The proposed
adjustments would result in additional tax due in the year XXXXX of $$$$$ and
in the year XXXXX of $$$$$.
16. On XXXXX, a Preliminary Notice was mailed to
Petitioner.
17. On XXXXX, Petitioner responded to the
Preliminary Notice.
18. On XXXXX, the Auditing Division responded to
Petitioner's XXXXX letter.
19. On XXXXX, Petitioner responded to the
Auditing Division's XXXXX letter.
20. On XXXXX, a Statutory Notice was issued.
21. On or about XXXXX, Petitioner filed a TC-20
with respect to its XXXXX return.
22. On or about XXXXX, Petitioner filed a TC-20
with respect to its XXXXX return.
23. On or about XXXXX, Petitioner filed a TC-20L
application for refund with respect to its XXXXX return carrying back losses to
XXXXX, XXXXX and XXXXX.
24. On XXXXX, Petitioner filed its Petition for
Redetermination.
25. On XXXXX, the Auditing Division filed its
response.
26. The pre-hearing conference was held XXXXX.
27. In XXXXX, the Utah State Tax Commission
issued Tax Bulletin No. 6-92, whereby under certain conditions an extension was
granted to the otherwise applicable statute of limitations for filing a Claim
for Refund.
28. Internal Revenue Code §§1311 through 1314
allow the mitigation of the effect of statutes of limitations and the
provisions.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
In
determining income for purposes of Utah's corporate franchise tax, a deduction
from income is allowed for the aggregate of net loss carryovers and net loss
carrybacks. (Utah Code Ann.
§59-7-108(14).)
A
net loss must first be carried back to the earliest of the prior three years
before it may be applied to any succeeding years. (Utah Code Ann. §59-7-108(14)(c).)
Claims
for credit or refund arising from a net loss carryback adjustment must be made
before the expiration of the 15th day of the 40th month following the end of
the taxable year of the net loss which resulted in the carryback. (Utah Code Ann. §59-7-141(2)(b).)
Corporate
franchise tax must be imposed within three years after the return is
filed. (Utah Code Ann. §59-7-138(1).)
DECISION AND ORDER
Based
on the foregoing stipulated facts, Petitioner raises the following issues:
1. Whether Respondent had a duty to audit and correct
errors in Petitioner's XXXXX and XXXXX returns prior to the expiration of the
statute of limitations applicable to those years;
2. Whether Respondent must follow federal tax
law and policy, including Internal Revenue Codes §§1311 through 1314, which
allows the federal statute of limitations to be reopened in cases such as this;
3. Whether Respondent can disallow the
application of XXXXX loss against XXXXX income, after the statute of
limitations has expired for both years;
4. Whether the Commission should grant
Petitioner additional time to claim a refund based on its deduction of XXXXX
losses from XXXXX through XXXXX income;
5. Whether constitutional principles of due
process and equal protection prohibit Respondent's assessment of additional tax
in this case;
6. Whether an implied principle of equitable
adjustments allows Petitioner to claim offsets of current deductions against
prior taxes; and,
7. Whether a principle of "equitable
recoupment" may be applied by Petitioner to allow offsets of taxes.
Each
of the foregoing will be considered in turn.
A. RESPONDENT'S DUTY TO CORRECT ERRORS PRIOR TO
THE EXPIRATION OF THE STATUE OF LIMITATIONS.
Petitioner
cites a 1956 federal district court decision (Ryan v. Harrison, DC Ill., 1956),
involving a federal loss carryover provision, for the proposition that
Respondent was obligated to audit and correct Petitioner's returns for XXXXX
and XXXXX before the statute of limitations for those years had expired. In Ryan, the federal district court concluded
that the taxpayer's request for refund, filed timely but seeking refund for the
wrong year, could be amended to the correct year even after the time for filing
refund requests had expired. The Ryan
court allowed the amendment on the grounds it related back to the taxpayer's
initial refund claim.
Obviously,
a significant difference exists between the circumstances in Ryan and this
case. Here, no refund request of any
sort was filed until the period for claiming refunds had expired. Consequently, there can be no argument of
"relation back". Also,
Petitioner's XXXXX return, which improperly applied the XXXXX losses, is
different from the refund request in Ryan because it required no affirmative
action from Respondent, i.e. issuance of a refund check.
Utah's
tax system is generally based upon voluntary self-assessment. Respondent has no
general duty to audit every return and not all returns are audited. In this case, Petitioner's returns for XXXXX
and XXXXX were initially accepted as correct and only reviewed after
Petitioner's XXXXX return required further investigation.
B. INCORPORATION OF FEDERAL TAX LAW AND POLICY
PURSUANT TO RULE R865-614(F).
The
Commission's RuleR865-6F-14 requires that Utah's corporation franchise tax
follow as closely as possible federal patterns. The Rule provides:
It
is the policy of the Tax Commission, in matters involving the determination of
net income for Utah corporation franchise tax purposes, to follow as closely as
possible federal requirements with respect to the same matters. In some instances, of course, the federal
and state statutes differ; and due to such conflict, the federal rulings,
regulations, and decisions cannot be followed.
Furthermore, in some instances, the Tax Commission may disagree with the
federal determinations and does not consider them controlling for Utah
corporation franchise tax purposes.
. . . . The following are the major items
which require different treatment under the state and federal statutes:
f. loss carry-overs and carrybacks. . . . .
(emphasis added)
Petitioner
argues that the foregoing policy requires the Commission to apply the Ryan case
to this appeal. As noted under Point A,
above, the Commission does not accept Petitioner's interpretation of the Ryan
case.
Petitioner
also argues that mitigation provisions of Internal Revenue Code §§1311-1314
should be followed by the Commission.
Such federal mitigation rules are statutory. No comparable provisions exist in Utah's statutes. As noted in the Commission's RuleR865-6F-14,
differences in federal and state law require different results. This is one such case.
C. AUDITING DIVISION CANNOT DISALLOW XXXXX LOSS
CARRYFORWARD TO XXXXX.
Petitioner
argues that:
after
the statute of limitations had run for the XXXXX and XXXXX returns, the
Auditing Division disallowed the XXXXX loss carryforward to Petitioner's XXXXX
income tax return. Because of this
disallowance, then there was additional income for the XXXXX year. . . .
The
statute of limitations to which Petitioner refers is §59-7-138, which limits
the period for assessment of deficiency to three years from the date on which a
return has been filed. Petitioner
confuses the impact of §59-7-138, which limits the time in which a deficiency
may be assessed by the Respondent, with Respondent's authority under §59-7-127
and §59-7-108(14) to determine whether Petitioner has properly claimed loss
carry over and loss carryback credit for years that remain open for assessment. In terms of the facts of this appeal, the
three-year statute of limitations of §59-7-138 prevents Respondent from
assessing additional tax for XXXXX or earlier.
It does not prevent Respondent from following the mandate of
§59-7-108(14) and applying Petitioner's losses against its income in order to
determine Petitioner's proper tax liability for XXXXX and XXXXX.
D. DISCRETION OF UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION
PERIOD/BULLETIN 6-92
Petitioner
argues that the discretion which the Commission exercised in promulgating Tax
Bulletin 6-92 should be exercised in this case to prevent what Petitioner
characterizes as a "harsh, unfair and inappropriate" result.
Tax
Bulletin 6-92 was promulgated to address taxpayer concerns that the Auditing
Division could "sit" on a loss carryback adjustment until the time
for claiming a credit for the loss had expired. Tax Bulletin 6-92 provides an extension of up to one month for
taxpayers to file claims for refunds based upon the carryback of losses. In this case, the statute of limitations for
claiming a loss carryback deduction for losses incurred during XXXXX expired on
XXXXX, approximately one year prior to Respondent's audit. The facts of this case do not fall within
either the letter or the spirit of Tax Bulletin 6-92.
With
respect to this point, Petitioner argues that Respondent is taxing Petitioner's
income twice. Although it may be a
distinction without a great deal of difference, particularly to Petitioner,
Respondent is actually denying Petitioner the benefit of a deduction which
Petitioner failed to properly claim.
E. CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
Petitioner
argues that the absence in Utah's Corporate Franchise Tax Act of an
"equitable adjustment" provision such as is found in Utah's
Individual Income Tax Act constitutes a violation of the United States
Constitution's equal protection clause.
Petitioner cites no authority for its constitutional argument, and the Commission is unaware of
any such authority. Furthermore, the
Commission must presume that legislative enactments are constitutional. The Commission therefore finds no merit to
Petitioner's constitutional arguments.
F. IMPLIED EQUITABLE ADJUSTMENTS
Petitioner
suggests that the Commission can infer authority to allow equitable adjustments
in the corporate franchise tax on the basis of statutory equitable adjustment
provisions applicable to individual income tax. Petitioner repeats its arguments under Point B, above. As the Commission has already responded to
those arguments, it will not repeat that discussion again. The Commission finds no merit to
Petitioner's argument, for the reasons previously stated.
G. EQUITABLE RECOUPMENT
Without
citing any authority for the proposition, Petitioner argues that the Commission
may permit Petitioner to offset its franchise tax liabilities for XXXXX and
XXXXX with refund claims for XXXXX through XXXXX, which Petitioner is otherwise
barred from claiming by virtue of the statute of limitations. Petitioner cites no authority for its claim. The Commission is unaware of any such
precedent, and therefore rejects the same.
SUMMARY
Based
on the foregoing, the Commission concludes that Respondent properly computed
the amounts of Petitioner's corporate income tax liability for the XXXXX and
XXXXX tax years. The Respondent's audit
determination in this matter is therefore affirmed. It is so ordered.
DATED
this 3 day of March, 19993.
BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION.
R. H. Hansen Roger
O. Tew
Chairman Commissioner
Joe B.
Pacheco S.
Blaine Willes
Commissioner Commissioner