BEFORE THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION
____________________________________
In Re: )
:
XXXXX, INC. ) FINDINGS OF FACT,
: CONCLUSIONS
OF LAW,
) AND FINAL
DECISION
:
) Appeal No.
92-1888
:
) Account
No. XXXXX
_____________________________________
STATEMENT OF CASE
This
matter came before the Utah State Tax Commission for a formal hearing on
XXXXX. Lisa L. Olpin, Presiding
Officer, heard the matter for and on behalf of the Commission. XXXXX, Petitioner's certified public
accountant, represented 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 and use tax.
2. The period in question is the fourth quarter
of XXXXX.
3. Petitioner filed its fourth quarter XXXXX
sales and use tax return on time. The
accompanying check, however, bounced for insufficient funds. Petitioner, therefore, was assessed a ten
percent late payment penalty plus interest.
4. Petitioner is requesting a waiver of the
penalty assessment.
5. Initially, Petitioner was unaware of any
problems with its payment check until the Tax Commission notified it in XXXXX.
6. The Tax Commission first told Petitioner
that the fourth quarter XXXXX return had been received without a payment check.
7. Later, the Commission corrected this
information and told Petitioner that a payment check had been received, but
that it had been returned for insufficient funds.
8. According to Petitioner's out of house
certified public accountant, XXXXX, Petitioner uses a certain XXXXX account for
its quarterly payments. Mr. XXXXX
explained that XXXXX routinely calls Petitioner when a transfer of funds is
necessary to cover outstanding checks.
9. To Petitioner's knowledge, XXXXX failed to
call Petitioner to transfer sufficient funds in this case.
10. By letter, XXXXX acknowledged that it is its
practice to call accounts and inform them when there are insufficient funds in
the system which will not clear unless a deposit is received. There is no indication in the letter whether
or not XXXXX did/did not call in this case.
11. The reason Petitioner did not discover that
its check to the Tax Commission had not cleared is because its financial books
are not reconciled on a quarterly basis.
At the time of the hearing, Petitioner still had not seen the bounced
check.
12. Petitioner sent a second check to the Tax
Commission as soon as it was made aware of the situation.
13. Petitioner has an excellent payment history
with the Commission.
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 foregoing, the Tax Commission finds that sufficient cause has been
shown which would justify a waiver of the penalty associated with the sales and
use tax due on the fourth quarter of XXXXX.
The interest is not waived. It
is so ordered.
DATED
this 22nd day of June, 1993.
BY ORDER OF THE UTAH STATE TAX COMMISSION.
R. H. Hansen Roger
O. Tew
Chairman Commissioner
Joe B.
Pacheco S.
Blaine Willes
Commissioner Commissioner