Brian and Loretta Garrett

21-01

On February 7, 2020, the Department denied the Taxpayer’s claim for refund based on the statute of limitations. On March 25, 2020, the Taxpayer protested the denial. The Taxpayer filed an amended personal income tax return for 2015 after she became aware that she could qualify for a rural healthcare practitioner credit and after she received a certificate of eligibility for the credit in 2019. She filed the amended return in 2020. Generally, a claim for refund must be filed within three years of the end of the calendar year in which the payment was originally due. This means the claim should have been made by December 31, 2019. The Taxpayer argued that the certificate of eligibility was not issued until March 1, 2019, which gave her only 10 months to file the return. But the Hearing Officer determined that the law only allows claims for refund within the statute of limitations and puts on the burden on taxpayers to pursue their claims in a timely manner. This having been decided, the Hearing Officer ordered the protest denied.