§ 137 — Petition to director of finance

§ 137. Petition to director of finance. (a) General.--The form of a\npetition to the director of finance, and further proceedings before the\ndirector of finance in any case initiated by the filing of a petition,\nshall be governed by such rules as the director of finance shall\nprescribe. No petition shall be denied in whole or in part without\nopportunity for a hearing on reasonable prior notice. Such hearing shall\nbe conducted by the director of finance, or by a hearing officer\ndesignated by the director of finance to take evidence and report to the\ndirector of finance. The director of finance shall decide the case as\nquickly as practicable. Notice of the decision shall be mailed promptly\nto the taxpayer by certified or registered mail at his last known\naddress, and such notice shall set forth the director's findings of fact\nand a brief statement of the grounds of decision in each case decided in\nwhole or in part adversely to the taxpayer.\n (b) Petition for redetermination of a deficiency.--Within ninety days,\nor one hundred fifty days if the notice is addressed to a person outside\nof the United States, after the mailing of the notice of deficiency\nauthorized by section one hundred twenty-nine, the taxpayer may file a\npetition with the director of finance for a redetermination of the\ndeficiency. Such petition may also assert a claim for refund for the\nsame taxable year or years, subject to the limitations of subdivision\n(g) of section one hundred thirty-five.\n (c) Petition for refund.--A taxpayer may file a petition with the\ndirector of finance for the amounts asserted in a claim for refund if--\n (1) the taxpayer has filed a timely claim for refund with the director\nof finance,\n (2) the taxpayer has not previously filed with the director of finance\na timely petition under subdivision (b) for the same taxable year unless\nthe petition under this subdivision relates to a separate claim for\ncredit or refund properly filed under subdivision (f) of section one\nhundred thirty-five, and\n (3) either (A) six months have expired since the claim was filed, or\n(B) the director of finance has mailed to the taxpayer, by registered or\ncertified mail, a notice of disallowance of such claim in whole or in\npart. No petition under this subdivision shall be filed more than two\nyears after the date of mailing of a notice of disallowance, unless\nprior to the expiration of such two year period it has been extended by\nwritten agreement between the taxpayer and the director of finance. If\na taxpayer files a written waiver of the requirement that he be mailed a\nnotice of disallowance, the two year period prescribed by this\nsubdivision for filing a petition for refund shall begin on the date\nsuch waiver is filed.\n (d) Assertion of deficiency after filing petition.--(1) Petition for\nredetermination of deficiency.--If a taxpayer files with the director of\nfinance a petition for redetermination of a deficiency, the director of\nfinance shall have power to determine a greater deficiency than asserted\nin the notice of deficiency and to determine if there should be assessed\nany addition to tax or penalty provided in section one hundred\nthirty-three, if claim therefor is asserted at or before the hearing\nunder the rules of the director of finance.\n (2) Petition for refund.--If the taxpayer files with the director of\nfinance a petition for credit or refund for a taxable year, the director\nof finance may\n (A) determine a deficiency for such year as to any amount of\ndeficiency asserted at or before the hearing under rules of the director\nof finance, and within the period in which an assessment would be timely\nunder section one hundred thirty-one, or\n (B) deny so much of the amount for which credit or refund is sought in\nthe petition, as is offset by other issues pertaining to the same\ntaxable year which are asserted at or before the hearing under rules of\nthe director of finance.\n (3) Opportunity to respond.--A taxpayer shall be given a reasonable\nopportunity to respond to any matters asserted by the director of\nfinance under this subdivision.\n (4) Restriction on further notices of deficiency.--If the taxpayer\nfiles a petition with the director of finance under this section, no\nnotice of deficiency under section one hundred twenty-nine may\nthereafter be issued by the director of finance for the same taxable\nyear, except in case of fraud or with respect to a change or correction\nin federal taxable income required to be reported under section one\nhundred twenty-seven or with respect to a state change or correction of\nsales and compensating use tax liability required to be reported under\nsection one hundred twenty-seven-A.\n (e) Burden of proof.--In any case before the director of finance under\nthis title, the burden of proof shall be upon the petitioner except for\nthe following issues, as to which the burden of proof shall be upon the\ndirector of finance:\n (1) whether the petitioner has been guilty of fraud with intent to\nevade tax;\n (2) whether the petitioner is liable as the transferee of property of\na taxpayer, but not to show that the taxpayer was liable for the tax;\nand\n (3) whether the petitioner is liable for any increase in a deficiency\nwhere such increase is asserted initially after a notice of deficiency\nwas mailed and a petition under this section filed, unless such increase\nin deficiency is the result of a change or correction of federal taxable\nincome required to be reported under section one hundred twenty-seven,\nand of which change or correction the director of finance had no notice\nat the time he mailed the notice of deficiency or unless such increase\nin deficiency is the result of a change or correction of sales and\ncompensating use tax liability required to be reported under section one\nhundred twenty-seven-A, and of which change or correction the\ncommissioner of finance had no notice at the time he mailed the notice\nof deficiency.\n (f) Evidence of related federal or state determination.--Evidence of a\nfederal or state determination relating to issues raised in a case\nbefore the director of finance under this section shall be admissible,\nunder rules established by the director of finance.\n (g) Jurisdiction over other years.--The director of finance shall\nconsider such facts with relation to the taxes for other years as may be\nnecessary correctly to determine the tax for the taxable year, but in so\ndoing shall have no jurisdiction to determine whether or not the tax for\nany other year has been overpaid or underpaid.\n