Nellwyn A. Buck - Page 17

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          petitioner's case was transferred from respondent's District                
          Counsel office in Houston to respondent's District Counsel office           
          in Oklahoma City for trial preparation because petitioner had               
          designated Oklahoma City as the place of trial.  Thereafter, the            
          record demonstrates that respondent acted reasonably promptly in            
          settling the case.  Thus, shortly after being assigned the                  
          defense of this case, respondent's counsel contacted petitioner's           
          counsel.  Thereafter, respondent's counsel acted promptly to                
          retrieve the filed return from the Austin Service Center.  Upon             
          receiving the filed return, respondent's counsel again acted                
          promptly in ordering transcripts of account in order to verify              
          the correctness of the return.  After those transcripts were                
          received in January 1996, respondent's counsel immediately                  
          conceded that petitioner had paid her tax liability for 1988 and            
          apparently also conceded that petitioner was not liable for the             
          addition to tax under section 6654(a).  Respondent's counsel                
          conceded the balance of the case on March 1, 1996, and no later             
          than March 5, 1996, he mailed the form of decision to                       
          petitioner's counsel for his signature.  Thus, this case was                
          completely settled 6 months after respondent filed the answer.              
          In this regard, we observe that some delay in the settlement                
          process, in and of itself, does not make respondent's position              
          unreasonable.  See Sokol v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. at 765, and               
          cases cited therein.                                                        






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