Bill shifts burden of proof to Department of Revenue

The Missouri Senate Committee on Ways and Means approved March 9 legislation that would shift the burden of proof in all tax disputes from taxpayers to the Department of Revenue.

Current Missouri policy denies the state's employers the basic right of innocence until proven guilty, according to a release from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, which drafted the legislation.

Senate Bill 550, sponsored by Sen. Franc Flotron, R-Chesterfield, addresses this inequity and would also require the Department of Revenue to defend disputes involving tax exemptions or tax credits, according to the chamber.

The bill now awaits debate in the full Senate.

This bill in an enhancement to legislation passed last year that shifted the burden of proof from individuals and small businesses to the Department of Revenue. Compromise legislation in the final hours of the 1999 legislative session excluded businesses with more than $7 million in net worth or more than 500 employees, the chamber stated. It also failed to cover tax exemption or tax credit disputes.

"The Missouri Chamber of Commerce holds that innocence until proven guilty is an unconditional right of every Missouri taxpayer," said Ray McCarty, Missouri chamber tax specialist. "We see no correlation between the size of business and the frequency of tax evasion."

The Missouri legislation is similar to a provision contained in the federal IRS Restructuring Act of 1998.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1923 and represents almost 3,000 employers providing more than 425,000 jobs in the state.