Peter Pettong and Chung-Yin Chiang - Page 7

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          case until February 28, 1994, which date is beyond the 90-day               
          period.                                                                     
          Discussion                                                                  
               It is well settled that in order to maintain an action in              
          this Court there must be a valid notice of deficiency and a                 
          timely filed petition.  Abeles v. Commissioner, 91 T.C. 1019,               
          1025 (1988).  Section 6212(a) authorizes the Secretary or his               
          delegate, upon determining that there is a deficiency in income             
          tax, to send a notice of deficiency "to the taxpayer by certified           
          mail or registered mail."  Section 6212(b)(1) provides that a               
          notice of deficiency, with respect to an income tax, "shall be              
          sufficient" if it is "mailed to the taxpayer at his last known              
          address".  As a general rule, the Commissioner has no duty to               
          effectuate delivery of the notice after it is mailed.  Monge v.             
          Commissioner, 93 T.C. 22, 33 (1989).                                        
               Neither section 6212 nor the regulation promulgated                    
          thereunder, section 301.6212-1, Proced. & Admin. Regs., defines             
          what constitutes a taxpayer's "last known address".  We have                
          defined it as the taxpayer's last permanent address or legal                
          residence known by the Commissioner, or the last known temporary            
          address of a definite duration to which the taxpayer has directed           
          the Commissioner to send all communications during such a period.           
          Weinroth v. Commissioner, 74 T.C. 430, 435 (1980); Alta Sierra              
          Vista, Inc. v. Commissioner, 62 T.C. 367, 374 (1974), affd.                 
          without published opinion 538 F.2d 334 (9th Cir. 1976).  Stated             




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