South Carolina Code 12-60-510. Exhaustion of prehearing remedy; request for hearing before Administrative Law Court
(1) If a taxpayer requests a contested case hearing before the Administrative Law Court within ninety days of the date of the proposed assessment without exhausting his prehearing remedy because he failed to file a protest with the department, the administrative law judge shall dismiss the action without prejudice. If the taxpayer failed timely to provide the department with the facts, law, and other authority supporting his position, he shall provide them to the department. The administrative law judge shall then remand the case to the department for reconsideration in light of the new facts or issues unless the department elects to forego the remand.
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 12-60-510
- Administrative Law Court: means the Administrative Law Court created by § 1-23-500. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Assessment: means the department's recording the liability of the taxpayer in the office of the department, subject to the restrictions in § 12-60-440. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Department: means the South Carolina Department of Revenue. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Department determination: means the final determination within the department from which a taxpayer or a local governing body, as applicable, may request a contested case hearing before the Administrative Law Court. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Proposed assessment: means the first written notice sent or given to the taxpayer stating that a division within the department has concluded that a tax is due. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Protest: means a written appeal of a proposed assessment or a division decision made in accordance with this chapter. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
- Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
- taxes: means taxes, licenses, permits, fees, or other amounts, including interest, regulatory and other penalties, and civil fines, imposed by this title, or subject to assessment or collection by the department. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
- Taxpayer: includes a licensee and an applicant for a license, issued by or administered by the department. See South Carolina Code 12-60-30
(2) If a taxpayer fails to file a protest with the department within ninety days of the date of the proposed assessment, the taxpayer is in default, and the department must issue an assessment for the taxes. The assessment may be removed by the Administrative Law Court for good cause shown, and the matter may be remanded to the department.
(B) Upon remand the department has thirty days, or a longer period ordered by the administrative law judge, to consider the new facts and issues and amend its department determination. The department shall issue its amended department determination in the same manner as the original. The taxpayer has thirty days after the date the department’s amended determination was sent by first class mail or delivered to the taxpayer to again request a contested case hearing. Requests for a hearing before the Administrative Law Court must be made in accordance with its rules. If the department fails to issue its amended department determination within thirty days of the date of the remand, or a longer period ordered by the administrative law judge, the taxpayer may request again a contested case hearing. At the new hearing the facts, law, and other authority presented at the original hearing have been presented in a timely manner for purposes of exhausting the taxpayer’s prehearing remedy. The statute of limitations remains suspended by § 12-54-85(G) during this process.