Santa Fe Stone Corporation

00-39

Taxpayer protested the imposition of interest due to the late payment of taxes. The late payment was caused by the fact that the Taxpayer’s bookkeeper had embezzled the tax monies and had concealed the fact that taxes were not being paid. When the Taxpayer discovered the embezzlement, it acted quickly to file returns and it began to catch up on its tax payments. The Taxpayer was also notified of the Tax Amnesty Program authorized by the legislature, but the notification was not brought to the attention of the company president and was not applied for within the tax amnesty period declared by the Department pursuant to the authority of the Tax Amnesty Act. Taxpayer requested that it be given consideration in the assessment of interest for the fact that it did not know about the embezzlement or the availability of tax amnesty. The Taxpayer’s protest was denied. The language of Section 7-1-67 requires the assessment of interest with respect to any late payment of tax and no exceptions are provided for in the statute. The Tax Amnesty Act only allowed the Secretary to abate interest during the tax amnesty period declared by the Secretary under the authority of the Tax Amnesty Act. The Department lost its authority to abate interest upon the expiration of the tax amnesty period.