in-20251126-IR-045250652NRA: DEPARTMENT OF STATE REVENUE 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE REVENUE  FINAL ORDER DENYING REFUND: 01-20241771 Individual Income Tax For The Year 2015 HOLDING Individuals failed to establish that their request for a refund was timely.

I. Individual Income Tax – Statute of Limitations.

Authority: IC 6-3-4-3; IC 6-8.1-9-1; Dept. of State Revenue v. Caterpillar, Inc., 15 N.E.3d 579 (Ind. 2014). Taxpayers protest the Department’s denial of refund. STATEMENT OF FACTS Taxpayers are a married couple and are Indiana residents. Taxpayers regularly jointly file Indiana individual income tax returns. Due to ongoing illness, Taxpayers failed to file Indiana individual tax returns for several years. In 2024, Taxpayers filed their 2015 Indiana individual income tax return and requested a refund. The Indiana Department of Revenue (“Department”) denied their refund request stating that the request was outside the statute of limitations. Taxpayers protested the denial and waived their right to an administrative hearing. This Final Order Denying Refund is written in reliance on documentation provided by Taxpayers and the Department’s records. Additional facts will be provided as necessary.

I. Individual Income Tax – Statute of Limitations.

DISCUSSION Taxpayers filed a return for the 2015 tax year on January 3, 2024, and requested a refund within the return. The Department denied the refund because the request was outside of the statute of limitations. Taxpayers’ representative acknowledged that the refund request was outside of the statute of limitations but requested that the Department apply the refund to outstanding liabilities for subsequent tax years. “[W]hen [courts] examine a statute that an agency is ‘charged with enforcing . . . [courts] defer to the agency’s reasonable interpretation of [the] statute even over an equally reasonable interpretation by another party.’” Dept. of State Revenue v. Caterpillar, Inc., 15 N.E.3d 579, 583 (Ind. 2014). IC 6-8.1-9-1(a) affords a taxpayer a statutory right to file a claim for refund. The statute provides in part: IC 6-3-4-3 requires Indiana income tax returns to be filed on “the 15th day of the fourth month following the close of the taxable year.” If a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, a national legal holiday recognized by the federal government, or a statewide holiday, the due date is moved to the next business day. The 15th day of the fourth month following the close of the 2015 taxable year was Friday, April 15, 2016. According to the Department’s records, Taxpayers’ return was postmarked on January 3, 2024. Per IC 6-8.1-9-1(a), Taxpayers had three years from the due date of the return to request a refund. Three years from the due date of the return was Monday, April 15, 2019. The Department is not unsympathetic to Taxpayers’ request to apply the refund to liabilities from later tax periods. However, the Department is unable to do so. The Department takes the opportunity to note that it did utilize refunds from other tax years to satisfy some outstanding liabilities, but the refund from the 2015 taxable year was not timely. The Department correctly denied Taxpayers’ request for refund. FINDING Taxpayers’ protest is denied. April 23, 2025 Replaces Finding Document: New