Chaparral Van Lines

02-21

In December 1999, the Department audited the Taxpayer for payment of IFTA and weight distance taxes for the period January 1997 through December 1999. Since the Taxpayer retained its accounting records for only six months, the Department had to use the limited records available to determine a sample error rate for the entire audit. In December 2001, the Department assessed the Taxpayer for underreported IFTA and weight distance taxes. The Taxpayer protested the assessments. Upon further review and discussion between the parties, the Department made several adjustments to the audit. As a result of these adjustments, the Taxpayer withdrew its protest to the tax principal assessed, but proceeded with its protest of interest, arguing that the Department’s delay in completing the audit caused an unnecessary amount of additional interest to accrue. Held: The Department’s delay did not relieve the Taxpayer from its liability for interest under Section 7-1-67 NMSA 1978. The Department neither caused the Taxpayer’s erroneous reporting nor prevented the Taxpayer from correcting its errors prior to issuance of the Department’s assessment.  Protest denied.