William Gardner

24-10

As part of a tax fraud case the Taxpayer signed a plea agreement in which he agreed that he owed gross receipts tax for tax periods from 2016 to 2019. Later, the Department assessed the Taxpayer for these amounts. The Taxpayer then filed a formal protest of the assessment with the Department. The Taxpayer later filed a formal motion to stay the protest because he claimed that he was filing a civil lawsuit against the state alleging that the plea agreement with the state was improper. The Hearing Officer determined, however, that there was no evidence that the plea agreement in the criminal fraud case was being overturned or that the plea agreement was invalid. The Taxpayer provided no evidence that the assessment, which had been a result of the plea agreement, was incorrect. Though the Hearing Officer agreed with the Taxpayer’s argument that the plea agreement was not the same as filing a return, it did act as support for the Department filing the assessment because in fact the Taxpayer had agreed that he owed tax. The Taxpayer also argued that he did not owe the tax but that the business did, but the Hearing Officer determined that by signing the plea agreement that Taxpayer had agreed that he personally was liable for paying the tax. The Hearing Officer also determined it was appropriate that the Department should collect the tax that was agreed to in the plea agreement instead of the court. Since the Taxpayer presented no other evidence to counter the assessment, the Hearing Officer denied the protest.