Indiana Administrative Code
Title 45 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE REVENUE
Article 15 - TAX ADMINISTRATION; GENERAL PROVISIONS
Rule 5 - Assessment
Section 5-3 - Hearings

(1) Upon receipt of a timely protest requesting a hearing with the department, the department's file, including the taxpayer's protest, will be forwarded to the administrator of the initiating tax division or to the technical tax division.

(2) The department shall set a date for a hearing of the protest and the taxpayer will be notified of the time and place thereof.

(3) Once a hearing date has been set, extensions of time, continuances and adjournments may be granted at the discretion of the department upon a showing of good cause.

(4) If the taxpayer or its duly authorized representative (see 45 IAC 15-3-3) wishes to file legal memoranda with the department concerning the facts, issues and arguments of its protest, that material must be submitted at least five (5) days prior to the date of the hearing.

(5) In lieu of a hearing, the taxpayer may elect to have its protest resolved based upon the taxpayer's written brief or by telephone conference. If the taxpayer elects to rely on its written brief or a telephone conference, the taxpayer's right to a hearing shall be waived. In resolving the protest, the department shall consider all relevant information and evidence submitted by the taxpayer and/or available to the department.

(6) If a taxpayer or its representative fails to appear at a hearing without securing a continuance, the department will decide the issues on the best evidence available to the department.

(7) The hearing will be conducted in an informal manner. The purpose of the hearing is to clearly establish the taxpayer's specific objections to the assessment and the reasoning for these objections. The hearing is not governed by any rules of evidence. The department is expressly excluded from the requirements of the Administrative Adjudication Act.

(8) The burden of proving that a proposed assessment is incorrect rests with the taxpayer against whom the proposed assessment is made. The department's audit establishes a prima facie presumption of the validity of the audit and the taxpayer's liability.