Douglas James Crawford - Page 8

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          Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1988-152; Fernandez v. Commissioner,               
          T.C. Memo. 1987-557.  Whether respondent has exercised reasonable           
          diligence in this regard depends upon a consideration of all the            
          facts and circumstances.  King v. Commissioner, supra at 678-679.           
               In Wallin v. Commissioner, supra, correspondence sent by the           
          Commissioner to the taxpayer at an address in Alaska shown on the           
          return for the year at issue was returned as undeliverable with             
          no forwarding address.  In an effort to obtain the taxpayer's               
          correct address prior to mailing a notice of deficiency, the                
          Commissioner subsequently made inquiries at the Anchorage Post              
          Office and the Alaska State Motor Vehicle Bureau and searched               
          microfilm records for tax returns filed by Alaskans in 1978 and             
          1979.  When these steps did not produce a new address for the               
          taxpayer, the Commissioner mailed the notice of deficiency to the           
          taxpayer's old address.  Under these circumstances, the Court of            
          Appeals held that the Commissioner failed to exercise reasonable            
          diligence in ascertaining the taxpayer's last known address.  In            
          reaching this conclusion, the Court of Appeals found it                     
          significant that the Commissioner failed to make an adequate                
          search of Internal Revenue Service computer records for the                 
          taxpayer's correct address.                                                 
               We conclude that respondent did not exercise due diligence             
          in ascertaining petitioner's correct address.  In short, the                
          record shows that respondent was aware prior to issuing the                 





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