Hearings

Sec. 3. (a) A taxpayer receiving a notice of proposed assessment shall have a right to protest the additional assessment and have a hearing

of the facts and issues before a final determination is made by the department with respect to such proposed assessment.

(b) The department hearing procedures are as follows:

(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.