§ 44-30-89. Administrative petition. (a) Petition for redetermination of a deficiency. Within thirty (30) days, or one hundred fifty (150) days if the notice is addressed to a person outside of the United States, after the mailing of the notice of deficiency under § 44-30-81, the taxpayer may file an administrative petition with the tax administrator for a redetermination of the deficiency. The petition may also assert a claim for refund for the same taxable year or years, subject to the limitations of § 44-30-87(g).

(b) Petition for refund. A taxpayer may file a petition to the tax administrator for the amounts asserted in a claim for refund if:

(1) The taxpayer has filed a timely claim for refund with the tax administrator;

(2) The taxpayer has not previously filed a petition with the tax administrator for redetermination of a deficiency for the taxable year (except where the claim for refund relates to a report of change or correction or amended return required to be filed under § 44-30-59); and

(3) Either: (i) six (6) months have expired since the claim was filed, or (ii) the tax administrator has mailed to the taxpayer a notice of disallowance of the claim in whole or in part. No petition under this subsection shall be filed more than two (2) years after the date of mailing of a notice of disallowance. The foregoing two (2) year period may be extended by written agreement between the taxpayer and the tax administrator.

(c) Procedural rules. The form of a petition to the tax administrator, and further proceedings before the administrator in any case initiated by the filing of an administrative petition, shall be governed by rules to be established by the tax administrator. No administrative petition shall be denied in whole or in part without an opportunity for a hearing having been provided the taxpayer by the tax administrator or by a hearing officer designated by the tax administrator to decide the case. At any hearing, the taxpayer may present any evidence that may be relevant, and the tax administrator or the hearing officer shall redetermine the correct amount of the tax.

(d) Assertion of deficiency after filing petition.

(1) Petition for redetermination of deficiency. If a taxpayer files with the tax administrator a petition for redetermination of a deficiency, the tax administrator shall have power to determine a greater deficiency than asserted in the notice of deficiency and to determine if any addition to tax, or civil penalty, as provided in § 44-30-85, should be assessed, if claim therefor is asserted at or before the hearing under rules of the tax administrator.

(2) Petition for refund. If the taxpayer files with the tax administrator a petition for credit or refund for a taxable year, the tax administrator may:

(i) Determine a deficiency for that year as to any amount of deficiency asserted at or before the hearing under rules of the tax administrator and within the period in which a notice of deficiency would be timely under § 44-30-83; or

(ii) Set off or deny so much of the amount for which credit or refund is sought, notwithstanding the expiration of any period of limitations as the tax administrator could otherwise have set off or denied for the same taxable year, provided the tax administrator has asserted the same at or before the hearing.

(e) Burden of proof. In any case before the tax administrator the burden of proof shall be upon the petitioner except as to the following issues:

(1) Whether the petitioner has been guilty of fraud with intent to evade tax;

(2) Whether the petitioner is liable as the transferee of property of a taxpayer, but not to show that the taxpayer was liable for the tax; and

(3) Whether the petitioner is liable for any increase in a deficiency where the increase is asserted initially after a notice of deficiency was mailed and petition under this section filed, unless the increase in deficiency is the result of an amended return, change, or correction of federal taxable income, required to be reported under § 44-30-59, and of which the tax administrator had no notice at the time the notice of deficiency was mailed.

(f) Related federal determination. Consideration may be given to a federal determination relating to issues raised in a case before the tax administrator.

History of Section. (P.L. 1971, ch. 8, art. 1, § 1; P.L. 1993, ch. 459, § 10.)