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as trustee of the trust. The Court of Appeals held that the
Commissioner was estopped from asserting the liability of the
bank because the bank had distributed the corpus in reliance on
the Commissioner's determination, and the bank would have had to
pay the liability out of the bank's funds. Schuster v.
Commissioner, 312 F.2d at 318. The closing letter issued to the
decedent's estate related solely to the estate tax.
Here, the Commissioner has done no about-face, as in
Schuster, i.e., petitioner's liability as transferee does not
arise in respect to any estate tax owed by the decedent's estate.
Rather, her liability is for the decedent's income tax, as to
which the closing letter was silent. There is accordingly no
showing of detrimental reliance on her part comparable to that
incurred by the bank in Schuster.
Petitioner testified that she did not receive the NBAP or
the FPAA and offered several theories to support her testimony.
She claims that the IRS used an incorrect zip code; the IRS
failed to change the name on the NBAP and FPAA to her name and
incorrectly used the decedent's name; and a change of address had
been submitted to the United States Postal Service by the person
that had acquired the decedent's medical practice. She also
notes that her son lived with her and had the same name as the
decedent. Petitioner argues that the notices were invalid on the
ground that they were mailed to the wrong zip code and addressed
to the decedent and not to petitioner.
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