- 7 -
arbitrarily, capriciously, or without sound basis in fact or law.
See Woodral v. Commissioner, 112 T.C. 19, 23 (1999).
When enacting section 6404(e), Congress intended for the
Commissioner to abate interest "where failure to abate interest
would be widely perceived as grossly unfair." H. Rept. 99-426,
at 844 (1985), 1986-3 C.B. (Vol. 2) 1, 844; S. Rept. 99-313, at
208 (1986), 1986-3 C.B. (Vol. 3) 1, 208. Congress, however, did
not intend that abatement "be used routinely to avoid payment of
interest." Id.
This is our first occasion to decide what constitutes a
ministerial act for purposes of section 6404(e). Section 6404(e)
does not define what is meant by the term "ministerial act".
The legislative history behind the enactment of section
6404(e) provides guidance to what Congress deemed to be a
ministerial act. The House Ways and Means Committee report
(House report) and the Senate Finance Committee report (Senate
report) state:
the term "ministerial act" [should] be limited to
nondiscretionary acts where all of the preliminary
prerequisites, such as conferencing and review by
supervisors, have taken place. Thus, a ministerial act
is a procedural action, not a decision in a substantive
area of tax law. * * * [H. Rept. 99-426, supra at
845, 1986-3 C.B. (Vol. 2) at 845; S. Rept. 99-313,
supra at 209, 1986-3 C.B. (Vol. 3) at 209.]
The House report and the Senate report also provide examples of
what constitutes a delay in performing a ministerial act. The
House report states:
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