04/07
On June 5, 2020, the Department issued a letter partially denying the Taxpayer’s request for refund. On June 30, 2020, the Taxpayer filed a timely written protest to the denial. The portion of the refund that was denied was for tax periods from January 1, 2016 through November 30, 2016, which the Department believed was beyond the statute of limitations for receiving a refund. The Taxpayer’s claim for refund was filed on February 21, 2020. The general deadline for receiving a refund is three years from the end of the calendar year when the payment was originally due or if the overpayment resulted from an assessment. The Taxpayer argued that an exception to this rule provided in statute allowed that overpayments found as a result of an audit may be refunded, and that when the Department requested documentation to substantiate the claim for refund this was an audit. However, the Hearing Office noted that statute provides for managed audits requested by the Taxpayer and audits initiated by the Department, where Taxpayers must be notified that they are under audit. In this case there was no evidence that either existed. The Taxpayer also was not assessed by the Department, but instead only filed a claim for refund. In this case, therefore, the Hearing Officer determined, the statute of limitations would apply, and for tax periods in question a claim for refund would need to be received by the Department by December 31, 2019. Since the claim was received after this, the Hearing Officer order the protest denied.