07/23
On September 28, 2020, the Department assessed the Taxpayers for personal income tax for tax years 2014 and 2015. On October 6, 2020, the Taxpayers filed a timely written protest to the assessment. The Department determined that additional tax was due because of the federal reporting. The Taxpayers argued that the assessment was not timely as it was supposed to be issued within three years from the year in which the tax was due. However, the statute states that someone may be assessed within six years if the return understates the tax by more than 25 percent. The Taxpayers also argued that they were not negligent and therefore should not owe penalty, but they could not support this argument other than stating that they did not know or understand what was going on with their taxes and had used a tax preparation software to do the taxes. By regulation negligence includes “inadvertence, indifference, thoughtlessness, carelessness, erroneous belief or inattention.” Since the Taxpayers could not provide support why they did not owe the tax, nor why they were not negligent, the Hearing Officer denied the protest and ordered that the Taxpayers were liable for the assessment.