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City of Tempe Taxpayer Assistance
The purpose of this page is to inform you, the taxpayer, of your rights under the
Tempe Tax Code. These laws have been adopted by the City Council to promote fairness,
confidentiality, and consistency in the application of the privilege (sales) tax laws. In
case of any omission in this publication or any inconsistency with the tax laws, the
language of the Tempe Tax Code will prevail.
General Rights As A Taxpayer
You will always be treated fairly and with courtesy by our employees.
Financial information will be kept confidential.
Whether you contact our office in person, by letter, or by telephone, your questions
will be answered promptly and accurately.
Employees are not evaluated by the amount of taxes they collect or assess. (Sec.
16-517)
Refund requests will be promptly reviewed and issued.
Any interviews relating to an audit or a deficiency in payment of any tax will be
conducted at your place of business or at our office, and will be held at a reasonable
time. During the interview, you will be given information about your rights, the audit,
how an audit can be amended, and appeal procedures regarding any amount you might owe.
If we have sent you a proposed assessment (the initial notice of the amount of tax we
have determined you owe) for any particular tax period, that proposed assessment cannot be
increased except in specific limited circumstances. Once the Tax and License Office
completes an audit and a tax deficiency has been determined, your liability for that
particular tax for the period included in the audit is fixed, and no additional audit may
be conducted, except under specific limited circumstances. (Sec. 16-556)
Reliance On Written Information (Sec. 16-541)
Although the Tax and License Office is confident that the oral responses given by its
employees to taxpayer questions are correct, the City is not bound by that oral advice. We
encourage you to put your questions in writing, and we will answer you in writing. This
will reduce the chances of misunderstanding. If you underpay your tax as a direct result
of following the written advice we have given you, an instruction on a tax report form, or
a taxpayer ruling, you will not have to pay interest or penalties on that tax.
Private Taxpayer Rulings (Sec. 16-597)
To obtain a more formal answer to a specific tax question, you may make a written
request for a private taxpayer ruling. If you underpaid your taxes because you relied on
this ruling, you will not have to pay any additional tax, interest or penalty, unless you
did not provide adequate or accurate information upon which the ruling was based. The
ruling only applies to taxes that become due after the ruling has been given and only to
the taxpayer who has requested the ruling. Rulings may be canceled by the Tax and License
Office with a written notice or because of a change in law. Thirty days after they are
issued, private taxpayer rulings are made available to the public for inspection and
copying. Any confidential information, such as the taxpayer's identity, will be removed
before the ruling is made available to the public.
Closing Agreements (Sec. 16-546)
If the Tax and License Office determines that a certain class of taxpayers has failed
to comply with their tax obligations as a result of an extensive misunderstanding or
misapplication of the tax laws, it may enter into closing agreements with those taxpayers.
The Tax and License Office will hold a public hearing at which the affected taxpayers may
inform the Tax and License Office as to the extent of the problem.
Extensive misunderstanding or misapplication occurs if the Tax and License Office
determines that more than sixty percent (60%) of the taxpayers in a particular class have
failed to account for their taxes properly.
These closing agreements, which require approval by charter, ordinance or
administrative regulation, may abate some or all of the penalties, interest and tax that
the taxpayers have failed to pay, or it may provide for future taxation only.
Abatement Of Penalties (Sec. 16-540)
If you believe you should not have to pay a penalty that has been assessed, you may
make a written request stating the reasons why you believe it should be abated. The
penalty will be forgiven if your conduct, or lack of conduct, that led to the penalty was
due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect. Reasonable cause includes situations in
which you had a reasonable basis to believe that the tax did not apply to the business
activity.
Installment Payments (Sec. 16-596)
If you owe taxes, you may ask for an installment plan to pay them. You may be asked to
provide a financial report to show that you are not able to pay the taxes all at once. If
your request to pay in installments is denied you have the right to petition the Taxpayer
Problem Resolution Officer to review the decision. The Taxpayer Problem Resolution Officer
has the authority to change the Tax and License Office's decision.
Expedited Review Of Jeopardy Assessments (Sec. 16-572)
Within thirty days of the date a jeopardy assessment is filed against you, you may ask
for an expedited review to determine if the jeopardy assessment is reasonable. The Tax and
License Office will respond to your request and issue a decision within fifteen days. If
our office rules in favor of the jeopardy assessment, you have thirty days in which to
file a civil action against the Tax and License Office in Tax Court. The Tax Court will
then determine if the Tax and License Office acted reasonably in filing the jeopardy
assessment.
APPEALS PROCESS
Administrative Review (Sec. 16-570)
If you disagree with the findings of an audit, you may discuss your concerns with the
auditor or the auditor's supervisor. You also have the right to file a written protest
requesting a hearing, correction, or redetermination of a proposed audit assessment. A
protest must be made within forty-five days from the date you receive the assessment.
Judicial Review (Sec. 16-575)
If you request a tax hearing and disagree with the hearing officer's decision, you may
seek judicial review of all or any part of the hearing officer's decision by initiating an
action against the City in the appropriate Court of this county. You are not required to
pay any protested tax, penalty, or interest upheld by the hearing officer before seeking
such judicial review.
Reimbursement Of Fees (Sec. 16-578)
If you win a hearing officer's decision, you may be reimbursed for the reasonable fees
and costs of presenting your case, if the Tax and License Office's position was not
substantially justified. You must first, within thirty days after receipt of a refund or
recalculated assessment, give the Taxpayer Problem Resolution Officer a detailed list of
the fees or costs incurred; the Taxpayer Problem Resolution Officer will then determine,
within thirty days, whether to grant your request for reimbursement. Reimbursement of fees
and costs may not exceed $20,000 or the actual amount of money spent, whichever is less.
Reimbursement of costs and fees only affects expenses incurred after December 31, 1996.
Taxpayer Problem Resolution Officer (Sec. 16-515)
The City of Tempe has established a Taxpayer Problem Resolution Officer to assist
taxpayers in the following ways:
•Provide service to taxpayers whose problems have not been resolved through normal
channels.
•Obtain information on audits, corrections and appeal procedures of the Tax and
License Office.
•Negotiate with Tax and License Office personnel to resolve complex and sensitive
taxpayer problems.
•Stop or prohibit the Tax and License Office from taking action against a
taxpayer, while reviewing the action.
•Identify policies and practices that do not allow for the fair and equitable
treatment of taxpayers and recommend alternatives to the City Manager.
•Represent taxpayers' interests in meetings formulating the Tax and License
Office's policies and procedures.
•Receive and evaluate complaints about employees of the Tax and License Office,
and make recommendations to the City Manager for appropriate corrective action.
•Compile data on the number and type of taxpayer complaints and evaluate the
actions taken by the Tax and License Office to resolve those complaints.
•Survey taxpayers each year to obtain their evaluation of the quality of service
provided by the Tax and License Office.
•Action taken by the Taxpayer Problem Resolution Officer may be reviewed and/or
modified by the City Manager.
Taxpayer Assistance Orders (Sec. 16-516)
The Taxpayer Problem Resolution Officer, with or without a formal written request from
a taxpayer, may issue a Taxpayer Assistance Order that suspends or stays an action or
proposed action by the tax office if, the Taxpayer Problem Resolution Officer determines
that a taxpayer is suffering or will suffer a significant hardship due to the manner in
which the tax office is administering the tax laws.
A Taxpayer Assistance Order may require the Tax and License Office to release a lien
perfected under the tax code, or cease other actions to enforce the tax code pending
resolution of the issue giving rise to the Taxpayer Assistance Order.
The Taxpayer Assistance Order is binding on the Tax and License Office until it is
reversed or rescinded by the Taxpayer Problem Resolution Officer or the City Manager.
Interest that would otherwise accrue on an outstanding tax obligation is not affected
by an issuance of a Taxpayer Assistance Order and will continue to accumulate.
A Taxpayer Assistance Order may not be used to question the merits of a tax owed or as
a substitute for any protest actions, such as appeals.
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