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The notice of deficiency was issued by respondent's district
office in Phoenix, Arizona. The contact person specified in the
notice was "R. Fenton".
The last paragraph of the first page of the notice of
deficiency stated as follows:
The time for filing a petition with the Court (90
or 150 days as the case may be) is set by law and
cannot be extended or suspended. Thus, contacting the
Service for more information or receiving other
correspondence from the Service will not change the
period for filing a petition with the Tax Court. The
court cannot consider your case if the petition is
filed late.
Petitioners received the notice of deficiency shortly after
it was mailed to them. Petitioners read the notice and
understood the significance of filing a petition within the 90-
day period of time.3 However, petitioners were surprised to
receive the notice because petitioners had been cooperating with
respondent's agents in the examination of their 1993 income tax
return. In this regard, petitioners had anticipated that the
information that they had most recently furnished would be
dispositive and would lead to an administrative resolution of
their case.
On or about September 6, 1996, petitioners telephoned Lana
Hatley, an IRS compliance officer to whom, in January 1996,
3 The notice of deficiency was not addressed to petitioners
outside of the United States; hence, the 150-day period provided
by sec. 6213(a) does not apply in this case.
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