HRS § 231-7.5 — Expedited appeals and dispute resolution program


HRS
§231-7.5 Expedited appeals and dispute
resolution program. (a) The department shall be authorized to implement
an administrative appeals and dispute resolution program that shall
expeditiously resolve all tax, penalty, interest, fine, assessment, and other
such disputes between the department and the taxpayer or return preparer. The
director or the director's designee, who shall report directly and be
answerable solely to the director, shall serve as an independent appeals
officer and shall be authorized to compromise, settle, or otherwise resolve any
dispute on any basis, including hazards and costs of litigation, considering
equally the position of the taxpayer and the department on an impartial basis.
The independent appeals officer shall not be influenced by any department tax
compliance initiatives and policies, or loss of revenue to the State.
Decisions of the independent appeals officer shall be in writing stating the
facts, analysis, and conclusions in support, which shall be provided to the
taxpayer and return preparer. Persons who currently serve or have served in
the previous five years as an auditor, audit supervisor or manager, collector,
collection supervisor or manager, district manager or supervisor, or tax
compliance administrator, shall not be eligible to be the director's designee.
(b) Notwithstanding any other law to the
contrary, including tax appeal procedures set forth under chapter 232, a
taxpayer shall be eligible to petition the department once for participation in
the administrative appeals and dispute resolution program after issuance of a
notice of proposed assessment; provided that if a taxpayer has filed a tax
appeal with the tax appeal court or other court, the taxpayer shall first be
required to obtain the approval of the director and permission from the
respective court prior to petitioning the department for participation. The
director shall have the right to deny a petition for cause.
(c) The department shall adopt procedures to
carry out the purposes of this section, including procedures relating to ex
parte communications between the director or the director's designee and other
department personnel to ensure that such communications do not compromise or
appear to compromise the independence of the administrative appeals and dispute
resolution program.
(d) The director of taxation may appoint an
administrative appeals officer as necessary to administer this section, and
perform other duties as directed by the director. The administrative appeals
officer shall be exempt from chapter 76 and may be a legal or accounting
professional; provided that no individual appointed under this section shall
render legal services reserved to the attorney general under chapter 28.