4 proceedings. The issues remaining for our decision, therefore, are (1) whether petitioners substantially prevailed as to the amount in controversy or most significant issue, and (2) whether the position of respondent was substantially justified. Section 7430(c)(7)(A) defines the "position of the United States" to mean (A) the position taken by the United States in a judicial proceeding (to which the section applies) and (B) the position taken in an administrative proceeding (to which the section applies) as of the earlier of (i) the date of the receipt by the taxpayer of the notice of the decision of the Internal Revenue Service Office of Appeals or (ii) the date of the notice of deficiency. In this case, there was no separate notice from the IRS Office of Appeals prior to the issuance of the notice of deficiency. Therefore, for purposes of section 7430, the United States is considered to have taken a position in the administrative proceeding on October 11, 1990, the date the notice of deficiency was issued by respondent. For civil tax cases commenced after December 31, 1985, section 1551(d)(1) of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Pub. L. 99-514, 100 Stat. 2085, 2752, changed the language referring to the position of the United States from "unreasonable" to "not substantially justified". However, this Court has held that the substantially justified standard does not represent a departure from the reasonableness standard. Sokol v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. 760, 763-764 n.7 (1989); Sher v. Commissioner, 89 T.C. 79, 84 (1987), affd. 861 F.2d 131 (5th Cir. 1988).Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
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