Mr. Cole was recently appointed to the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals and learned that his first hearing involves an appeal by his wife's employer, Sasol.
The jurisdiction of the BOTA is defined in R.S. 47:1407. In the present case, the Louisiana Department of Revenue and Taxation (LDR) denied a refund request and Sasol filed an appeal with the Board. Once the BOTA has rendered judgment, either the taxpayer or the LDR may appeal its ruling to the applicable State District Court (R.S. 47:1434). The appeal is only on the record made at the BOTA, and deference is given to the Board's factual findings (R.S. 47:1435). As a Board Member, Mr. Cole would participate in the hearing, vote on the disposition of the matter, and then vote on the approval of the proposed judgment prepared by outside counsel. The Board currently has two members, so if Mr. Cole's vote was different from that of Judge Graphia the matter could not be resolved until a third board member is appointed.
The basic issue that will be before the BOTA for the hearing involves whether Sasol's $1.5 million refund claim is prescribed. If the LDR's Exception of Prescription is denied, then the BOTA will have another hearing on the merits of the appeal, which will revolve around the accuracy of the LDR's audit that increased the taxpayer's 2000 LA income taxes and Sasol's request of LDR to carry back Sasol's reported Net Operating Loss for previous tax years.
Sasol is a global energy company with 2012 revenues of approximately $22 billion. Sasol employs 34,000 employees worldwide, including approximately 500 in Lake Charles. As one of the investments in your retirement account, you hold $10,000 of company stock.
According to Mr. Cole's advisory opinion request, his wife, Rebekah, had no knowledge of this tax matter until he asked her to obtain a job description for this opinion request. She has been employed with Sasol since May 2004. She was previously a Research Engineer in the R & D Department, and currently works part-time as a Product Safety Specialist in the Global Product Safety Group where she receives full benefits with a salary of $55,000 per year. Ms. Cole's job deals with product notifications and regulatory compliance related to the company's products, and does not involve taxes or financial filing. Her department is not involved with, and has no knowledge of, the company's tax filing or practices.
Since Mr. Cole's initial advisory opinion request, Judge Graphia has signed an order recusing Mr. Cole from the hearing and participation in the decision of the Exception of Peremption and Prescription filed by the Louisiana Department of Revenue and the Petition for Refund filed by Sasol. As such, Mr. Cole will no longer be participating in the matter in question. Further, the Board of Tax Appeals may not hear the matter at this time since the recusal order places the Board of Tax Appeals in a situation wherein it lacks a quorum to adjudicate the matter. The matter has been continued without date until there is a gubernatorial appointment to fill the outstanding vacancy on the Board of Tax Appeals. Mr. Cole's amended question to the Board concerns the receipt of income from Sasol, and what effect such income may have in regards to the Code of Ethics while Sasol is appealing a matter before his agency, the Board of Tax Appeals.
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