SB-0327, As Passed House, June 11, 2014
HOUSE SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 327
A bill to amend 1941 PA 122, entitled
"An act to establish the revenue collection duties of the
department of treasury; to prescribe its powers and duties as the
revenue collection agency of this state; to prescribe certain
powers and duties of the state treasurer; to establish the
collection duties of certain other state departments for money or
accounts owed to this state; to regulate the importation, stamping,
and disposition of certain tobacco products; to provide for the
transfer of powers and duties now vested in certain other state
boards, commissions, departments, and offices; to prescribe certain
duties of and require certain reports from the department of
treasury; to provide procedures for the payment, administration,
audit, assessment, levy of interests or penalties on, and appeals
of taxes and tax liability; to prescribe its powers and duties if
an agreement to act as agent for a city to administer, collect, and
enforce the city income tax act on behalf of a city is entered into
with any city; to provide an appropriation; to abolish the state
board of tax administration; to prescribe penalties and provide
remedies; and to declare the effect of this act,"
by amending section 4 (MCL 205.4), as amended by 2002 PA 657.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec.
4. (1) Not later than 1 year after the effective date of
this
section, April 1, 1994, the department of treasury shall
submit rules for a public hearing pursuant to the administrative
procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328, that
provide for all of the following:
(a) Standards to be followed by department officers and
employees for the fair and courteous treatment of the public, and a
system for monitoring compliance with those standards.
(b) The procedures governing an informal conference held under
section 21. These procedures shall include at least all of the
following:
(i) A method by which the department attempts to schedule the
informal conference at a mutually convenient time and place.
(ii) A requirement that the department include in the notice
for the informal conference the scope and nature of the subject of
the informal conference.
(iii) Authorization for the taxpayer at whose request the
informal conference is being held to make a sound recording of the
informal conference with prior notice to the department and for the
department to do the same with prior notice to the taxpayer.
(2)
Not later than 1 year after the effective date of this
section,
April 1, 1994, the department shall develop guidelines to
govern departmental employee responses to inquiries from the public
and standards for tax audit activities. The guidelines shall
explicitly exclude the use of a collection goal or quota for
evaluating an employee. The department shall assemble the
guidelines required by this subsection into an employee handbook.
However, the handbook shall not disclose information or parameters
excluded from disclosure under section 28(1)(f). The department
shall distribute the handbook to all departmental employees
involved in the collection or auditing of taxes and shall make the
handbook available to the public.
(3) Not later than January 1, 2015, the department shall
electronically file a request for rule-making under section 39(1)
of the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL
24.239, with the office of regulatory reinvention. The proposed
rules shall provide for all of the following:
(a) Standards for the fair and courteous treatment of the
public to be followed by the department's contractors, consultants,
and agents and a system for monitoring compliance with these
standards.
(b) Standards that ensure that all statutes and rules shall be
fairly and consistently applied to all taxpayers.
(c) A requirement that the department shall not use collection
goals or quotas during the conduct of an audit of a tax
administered under this act or an examination of records under the
uniform unclaimed property act, 1995 PA 29, MCL 567.221 to 567.265.
(4) If the department intentionally uses a collection goal or
quota in the conduct of an audit of a tax administered under this
act or the examination of records under the uniform unclaimed
property act, 1995 PA 29, MCL 567.221 to 567.265, the taxpayer may
be awarded actual damages, including reasonable attorney fees,
sustained as a result of the department's action. An award under
this subsection shall not exceed $45,000.00. Actual damages do not
include taxes owed or deliverable abandoned property.
(5) (3)
The department shall publish a
handbook for taxpayers
and tax preparers. The handbook shall be made available at a
reasonable cost, not to exceed the actual cost of publication, and
shall contain all of the following:
(a) The audit and collection procedures used by the department
and agents of the department.
(b) The procedures governing departmental communications with
taxpayers in the audit and collection process.