Indiana Administrative Code › Title 45 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE REVENUE › Article 15 - TAX ADMINISTRATION; GENERAL PROVISIONS › Rule 3 - Duties; Powers; Responsibilities › Section 3-2 - Rules and regulations

Current through July 10, 2024
Authority: IC 6-8.1-3-3
Affected: IC 6-8.1-3-3; IC 6-8.1-5-1
Sec. 2.
(a) The
				department has the authority to promulgate rules that are consistent with the
				statutory provisions of the listed taxes.
(b) An interpretation of the statutory
				provisions governing the listed taxes, made by a court of competent
				jurisdiction, which conflicts with rules promulgated by the department, will
				render that rule, or portion of a rule, null and void, and will become the
				official interpretation of the department, effective upon the date of issuance
				of the court's decision. If such decision is appealed by the department, the
				interpretation will become effective when such decision becomes
				final.
(c) As a general rule, the
				modification of a rule will not be applied retroactively. If a rule is later
				found to be inconsistent with changes in the law by statute or by decisions of
				a court of precedence, the rule will not protect a taxpayer in the same or
				subsequent years once the rule has been determined to be inconsistent with the
				law.
(d)
(1) The department provides advice to
				taxpayers in many different forms. Rulings are issued to individual taxpayers
				based upon specific factual situations. Applications for rulings should be
				directed to the administrator of the particular division of tax from which the
				taxpayer is requesting a ruling. All relevant facts must be submitted in
				writing for such a determination to be made. The department will not issue a
				ruling based upon either an oral request or a written request from an anonymous
				taxpayer.
(2) As a general rule,
				the revocation or modification of a ruling will not be applied retroactively
				with respect to the taxpayer to whom the ruling was originally issued or to a
				taxpayer whose tax liability was directly involved in such a ruling. Under
				circumstances where a ruling to a taxpayer is revoked with retroactive effect,
				the notice to such taxpayer will set forth the grounds upon which the
				revocation is being made and the extreme circumstance under which revocation is
				being applied retroactively. This retroactive revocation is decided upon a
				case-by-case basis taking into account all relevant facts and circumstances.
				The department may exercise its discretion to retroactively rescind or modify
				rulings in the following extreme circumstances, which are not all inclusive:
(A) There was a misstatement or omission of
				material facts.
(B) The facts, as
				developed after the ruling, were materially different from the facts on which
				the department based its ruling.
(C) There was a change in the applicable
				statute, case law or regulation.
(D) The taxpayer directly involved in the
				ruling did not act in good faith.
Taxpayers are cautioned that changes in the law and final
				  decisions of Appellate Court, Supreme Court and Indiana Tax Court cases are
				  notification to the taxpayer of a possible revocation of a ruling, effective
				  from the date of the court decision or change in the law within the statutory
				  open period.
(3)
				In respect to rulings issued by the department, based on a particular fact
				situation which may affect the tax liability of the taxpayer, only the taxpayer
				to whom the ruling was issued is entitled to rely on it. Since the department
				publicizes summaries of rulings which it makes, other taxpayers with
				substantially identical factual situations may rely on the publicized rulings
				for informational purposes in preparing returns and making tax decisions.
				Generally, department publications may be relied on by any taxpayer if their
				fact situation does not vary substantially from those facts upon which the
				department based its publication. If a taxpayer relies on a publicized ruling
				and the department discovers, upon examination, that the fact situation of the
				particular taxpayer is different in any material respect from that situation on
				which the original ruling was issued, the ruling will afford the taxpayer no
				protection and the examination will apply to all open years under the statutes.
				Letters of findings that are issued by the department, as a result of protested
				assessments, are to be considered rulings of the department as applied to the
				particular facts protested.