Scott & Rebecca Dole D/B/A SW Flooring Installation

01-28

The Taxpayer was assessed gross receipts tax, penalty and interest based upon an audit in which the Department disallowed deductions for which the Taxpayer was unable to present a timely NTTC of the proper type. Taxpayer challenged the assessment on the grounds that the Department’s NTTCs are confusing and the requirements surrounding use of NTTCs are too complicated, that another similarly situated Taxpayer had been allowed the deductions under similar circumstances, that the assessment represented prohibited double taxation and that the 14 month delay between the filing of the protest and the hearing of the protest violated the requirement of § 7-1-24 that hearings on protests be set promptly. The protest was denied. The Taxpayer’s failure to understand the requirements for claiming and supporting deductions is not a defense to the assessment and the issues about the NTTC system must be taken up with the legislature.  Even though the Department erroneously allowed a similarly situated taxpayer to claim deductions in similar circumstances, the mistakes or errors of the Department with respect to another taxpayer does not provide a defense to an assessment of tax made in accordance with the law. There is no prohibition against double taxation and no double taxation occurred here because there were two separate taxpayers and two separate taxable transactions.  Finally, even if the Taxpayer’s protest was not heard promptly, which was not ruled upon, it would not provide a defense to the assessment at issue.