Statute of Limitations--DOR Interpretation  
The Department offered an interesting interpretation, and concession, in a proceeding before the Division of Administrative Hearings recently. Haas Publishing Cos. v. Florida Dept. of Revenue, DOAH Case No. 03-2683. Florida Statutes s. 213.345 provides that the limitations in s. 95.031(3)(generally three years) "shall be tolled for a period of year if the Department of Revenuse has, on or after July 1, 1999, issued a notice of intent to conduct an audit or investigation of the taxpayer's account within the applicable period of time." Thus a notice of intent to audit dated November 1, 2004 would ordinarily identify the audit period as November 1, 2001 to November 1, 2004. The Department has 120 days after the notice in which to commence the audit, unless the taxpayer requests a delay or grants an extension. But the Department testified in the DOAH case that "DOR considers itself limited to going back only [three] years from the date the auditor begins to review a taxpayer's records and that the Agency interprets Section 213.345, Florida Statutes to require completion of the audit within one year of the initial letter." Accordingly, if the auditor that sent out the November 1, 2004, notice of intent, but did not begin reviewing records until January 1, 2005, the Department would regard itself limited to the period January 1, 2002 to January 1, 2005--the months of November and December 2001 would be barred by statute, and the months of November and December 2004 deemed added to the audit period. This policy should be kept in mind in responding to Department requests for extensions.

Posted: 2004-10-29 00:00:00.0

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