John and Betty Richardson Stafford - Page 7

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               Respondent mailed the notice of deficiency in question to              
          petitioners at the Georgia address on September 9, 1994.  The               
          petition arrived at the Court in an envelope postmarked January             
          4, 1996, and was filed by the Court on January 11, 1996.  Given             
          that the petition was neither mailed nor filed before the                   
          expiration of the 90-day statutory period for filing a timely               
          petition, it follows that we lack jurisdiction over the                     
          petition.  Secs. 6213(a), 7502; Rule 13(a), (c); see Normac,                
          Inc. v. Commissioner, supra.                                                
               The question presented is whether dismissal of this case               
          should be premised on petitioners' failure to file a timely                 
          petition under section 6213(a) or on respondent's failure to                
          issue a valid notice of deficiency under section 6212.                      
          Petitioners contend that they did not receive the notice of                 
          deficiency and that the notice is invalid because it was not                
          mailed to their last known address.                                         
               Although the phrase "last known address" is not defined in             
          the Internal Revenue Code or in the regulations thereunder, we              
          have held that a taxpayer's last known address is the address               
          shown on the taxpayer's most recently filed return, absent clear            
          and concise notice of a change of address.  Abeles v.                       
          Commissioner, 91 T.C. 1019, 1035 (1988); see King v.                        
          Commissioner, supra at 681.  The burden of proving that a notice            







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