ASMSU now is recovering from tax problems resulting from the early retirement of an ASMSU business office manager nearly three years ago.

Members from the undergraduate student government's finance committee voted to move a bill to appropriate funding for $4,870 in back taxes from its risk-management account back to the business office account Thursday night.

After the IRS conducted a full audit of the business records this past summer, ASMSU was found to be in fault of incurring back taxes from the pay period of January 2000 to December 2000.

When the taxes were brought to light, funds immediately were taken from ASMSU's business office account to pay for them.

Michelle Halloran, director of the MSU-DCL College of Law Tax Clinic, said she was unable to comment on ASMSU's specific case, but she said that, generally, incurring back taxes can be a common problem for both businesses and individuals.

Once a business pays its back taxes, any case against it is closed, but a permanent record of the nonpayment remains on file with the IRS, Halloran said.

Halloran said appeals to remove back taxes sometimes can be made by small businesses if they can prove that there was an unusual circumstance; if they suddenly lose their bookkeeper, for example. ASMSU most likely could not be considered a small business.

Problems began when ASMSU's longtime business office manager, Jeanne Fancher, opted for early retirement on Jan. 1, 2001.

Fancher initially planned to leave in May 2001 after working with ASMSU for more than 19 years.

Fancher was responsible for controlling money within ASMSU's different accounts and distributing paychecks, handling paperwork and tax returns.

Because of the vacancy, ASMSU had to distribute the duties among its student officials.

Debra Gleason, ASMSU's current business office manager, said there was a seven-month vacancy before she filled the position.

"There was no one to fill in because there is no one else on this campus that knows how to do this job," Gleason said.

Student Assembly Comptroller Michael Trudeau said the former comptroller, Nick McVay, worked to get the taxes taken off this summer but was unable to.

Trudeau said no one who currently works at ASMSU is at fault for the back taxes, and that the absence of personnel created a lot of extra work for the organization.

"There is no one to blame. The IRS wasn't mad; we had some small penalties, but we have paid them off," Trudeau said.

"The work fell behind, but we caught up with it and took care of everything."