15-2-302. Direct appeal from department decision to state tax appeal board -- hearing. (1) A person may appeal to the state tax appeal board a final decision of the department of revenue involving:
     (a) property centrally assessed under chapter 23;
     (b) classification of property as new industrial property;
     (c) any other tax, other than the property tax, imposed under this title; or
     (d) any other matter in which the appeal is provided by law.
     (2) (a) Except as provided in subsection (2)(b), the appeal is made by filing a complaint with the board within 30 days following receipt of notice of the department's final decision. The complaint must set forth the grounds for relief and the nature of relief demanded. The board shall immediately transmit a copy of the complaint to the department.
     (b) An appeal from the department's determination of whether wages earned by an unemployment insurance benefit claimant were properly reported to the department is initiated by filing a complaint with the board within 10 days following receipt of notice of the department's final determination. The board shall promptly mail a copy of the complaint to each interested party at the last-known address of each party.
     (3) The department shall file with the board an answer within 30 days following filing of a complaint, or in cases involving a determination of whether wages earned by an unemployment insurance benefit claimant were properly reported to the department, any interested party, as defined in 15-30-257(1)(e), and the department may file an answer with the board within 10 days after receipt of a copy of the complaint filed with the board, and at that time mail a copy to the complainant. The answer must set forth the department's response to each ground for and type of relief demanded in the complaint.
     (4) (a) Except as provided in subsection (4)(b), the board shall conduct the appeal in accordance with the contested case provisions of the Montana Administrative Procedure Act.
     (b) (i) In an appeal regarding the determination of whether wages earned by an unemployment insurance claimant were properly reported to the department, the appeal must be conducted informally and may, in the discretion of the board, be conducted by telephone or other electronic means. The appeal is not a contested case under provisions of the Montana Administrative Procedure Act. The board, in conducting the hearing or making its decision, is not bound by the Montana Rules of Evidence.
     (ii) The board shall make its final decision within 45 days of the date the appeal is received by the board.
     (5) The decision of the state tax appeal board is final and binding upon all interested parties unless reversed or modified by judicial review. Proceedings for judicial review of a decision of the state tax appeal board under this section are subject to the provisions of 15-2-303 and the Montana Administrative Procedure Act to the extent that it does not conflict with 15-2-303.

     History: En. 84-709.4 by Sec. 2, Ch. 155, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 84-709.4; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 59, L. 1993; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 594, L. 1993; amd. Sec. 9, Ch. 491, L. 1997.