Kentron, Inc. v. State Board of Tax Commissioners

572 N.E.2d 1366, 1991 Ind. Tax LEXIS 8, 1991 WL 101669
CourtIndiana Tax Court
DecidedJune 11, 1991
Docket71T05-8911-TA-00052
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 572 N.E.2d 1366 (Kentron, Inc. v. State Board of Tax Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kentron, Inc. v. State Board of Tax Commissioners, 572 N.E.2d 1366, 1991 Ind. Tax LEXIS 8, 1991 WL 101669 (Ind. Super. Ct. 1991).

Opinion

FISHER, Judge.

Kentron, Inc. (Kentron) appeals the State Board of Tax Commissioners' (State Board) final determination, finding Kentron and the predecessor corporations waived the exemption provided by IC 6-1.1-10-29 and 6-1.1-10-80. In its final determination, the State Board assessed personal property for the tax years 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1987 in the amounts of $1,837,400, $867,810, $876,-070, and $371,610, respectively. This matter comes before the court on Kentron's motion for summary judgment and the State Board's response thereto.

FACTS

Kentron submitted the affidavit of Richard K. Roush, executive vice-president for Kentron, setting forth the following facts. Kentron's place of business is located in Osolo township in Elkhart County, Indiana. Kentron is the successor-in-interest to several companies, 1 hereinafter referred to as "predecessor corporations." These predecessor corporations manufactured personal property consisting of van chassis. At the time of the assessments, Roush stated the property was awaiting shipment under purchase orders from customers located outside Indiana and ultimately was shipped to *1368 the customers in interstate commerce. predecessor corporations' accounting procedures treated all the property under purchase orders, awaiting shipment as sold and not as part of the inventory value reported on the corporations' personal property tax returns. The State Board determined the cost basis of the property excluded from inventory totalled $7,488, 063. The State Board further determined the personal property should have been included in the inventory of record reported on Schedule B of Form 103, and Kentron's failure to report the property and claim the exemption on its return constituted a waiver of the exemption. Roush claims the finished units awaiting shipment out-of-state qualified for the exemption provided by both IC 6-1.1-10-80 and the interstate commerce clause of the United States Constitution. - Roush further maintains the State Board would have allowed the exemption for the finished units if the predecessor corporations had not failed to claim the exemption, waiving it under IC 6-1.1-11-1.

In opposition to Roush's affidavit, the State Board submitted the affidavits of Robert A. Morgan, Director of the Personal Property Division of the State Board, and Theodore R. Jacobson, Field Auditor of the Personal Property Division. Morgan, the hearing officer at Kentron's administrative hearing, refutes Kentron's contention that either Kentron or its predecessors proved all the personal property was awaiting shipment under purchase orders from customers located outside Indiana and was ultimately shipped in interstate commerce. The State Board requires original documents such as purchase orders, shipping invoices, or other shipping documents, termed by the State Board as source doe-uments, to substantiate a taxpayer's books and records. Instead of producing the required source documents, Kentron relied upon work papers prepared by Kentron, consisting of a summary accounting of vehicles.. Kentron never produced the doe uments necessary to substantiate its claim of exemption. The State Board did not pursue the documentation problem, however, because Kentron had not claimed the exemption on its tax return. From the balance sheet and the work papers that were submitted, it was clear that Kentron's normal method of accounting was a procedure used exclusively for reporting inventory for property tax purposes, and because Kentron and the predecessor corporations failed to claim the exemption, the State Board did not examine whether the goods would otherwise qualify for exemption. The information supplied in the taxpayer's own work papers was not sufficient to prove the property at issue qualified for exemption because the goods were not finished and ready for shipment. 2

Theodore R. Jacobson, State Board Field Auditor, states:

[AJt no time during the course of the affiant's meetings with representatives of the Petitioner were documents, such as purchase orders and shipping invoices, presented to establish or support a claim that at all times relevant hereto all of the personal property in question manufactured by the predecessor corporations was awaiting shipment under purchase orders from customers located outside the State of Indiana, and was ultimately shipped in interstate commerce to such customers.

CONTENTIONS

Kentron contends the State Board ignored precedential cases where courts have permitted a taxpayer to claim a federal exception from state taxation by protesting payment, irrespective of procedural requirements imposed by the state. Furthermore, the State Board's finding that Ken-tron waived its rights to the exemption is contrary to law because the State Board failed to follow the correct legal standard when it failed to determine whether Ken-tron knowingly and intentionally waived the exemption.

*1369 Conversely, the State Board contends Kentron is not entitled to summary judgment because substantial and material issues of fact remain to be determined and the grounds on which Kentron claims the exemption are contrary to law. Furthermore, the State Board claims it did not determine whether Kentron's property would otherwise qualify for exemption since Kentron had not properly claimed the exemption. chase orders and shipping invoices were not presented to prove the inventory was awaiting shipment. Moreover, many of the chassis did not qualify for exemption, according to the State Board, because they were unfinished raw materials, some only three percent (8%) completed. The State Board further contends Indiana's property taxation scheme is based upon self-assessment and full disclosure, requiring all property to be reported. disclosure enables a just and equal valuation of all property. Kentron failed to comply with the full disclosure requirement, because even though property is not included on the taxpayer's books and records, it still must be reported. 50 LA.C. 4.1-8-4. No dispute exists that purIC 6-1.1-8-9. Full

WRITTEN FINDINGS

The State Board's Written Findings provide in pertinent part:

The remaining question ... is whether ... the Taxpayers are entitled to an exemption that was not claimed on their self-assessment returns. When claiming an exemption on goods considered to be in interstate commerce, Indiana Code 6-1.1-10-31 3 required that the exemption be shown on the personal property return....

A logical interpretation of [IC 6-1.1-10-31 is] ... reported on the personal property return and the exemption claimed must also be shown on the return. sessing officials can carry out their statutorily imposed review requirements.... In the present case, the property in question was omitted from the returns and no exemption claim was made on this property [as required by IC 6-1.1-11-1 4 ].... Indiana Code 6-1.1-10-31 contained the procedures necessary to claim an interstate commerce exemption and IC 6-1.1-cedures.

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Related

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Bluebook (online)
572 N.E.2d 1366, 1991 Ind. Tax LEXIS 8, 1991 WL 101669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kentron-inc-v-state-board-of-tax-commissioners-indtc-1991.