CPM Student Projects

The Idaho State Tax Commission conducts income tax audits of returns ranging from basic returns of individuals to complex returns of mulitstate/multinational corporations. The complexity of the audits ranges from basic reviews of income and deductions to complex examinations involving the most difficult issues in taxation.

Idaho law provides an appeals process for taxpayers who do not agree with audit determinations. The first level of an appeal is an administrative review of the audit findings. At the conclusion of the review, the Commission issues an administrative decision that cancels, upholds, or modifies the audit determination. These decisions often contain analysis of facts, laws, and court decisions and are binding legal precedent for future decisions of the Commission.

When I began my project, there was no topical index for the decisions. This made researching them for legal precedent difficult and time consuming. My project was to develop a subject matter index for 2002-2005 income tax administrative decisions having precedent value. The result of my project was a research index for tax issues in those decisions with approximately 550 references to administrative decisions. A copy of the index was provided to the income tax audit staff. The index is also available on the Audit and Collection Division intranet.