- 5 -
Discussion
The Tax Court is a court of limited jurisdiction, and we may
exercise our jurisdiction only to the extent authorized by
Congress. Naftel v. Commissioner, 85 T.C. 527, 529 (1985). Our
jurisdiction to redetermine a deficiency depends upon the
issuance of a valid notice of deficiency and a timely filed
petition. Rule 13(a),(c); Monge v. Commissioner, 93 T.C. 22, 27
(1989); Normac, Inc. & Normac International v. Commissioner, 90
T.C. 142, 147 (1988).
Section 6212(a) expressly authorizes the Commissioner, after
determining a deficiency, to send a notice of deficiency to the
taxpayer by certified or registered mail. The taxpayer, in turn,
generally has 90 days from the date the notice of deficiency is
mailed to file a petition in this Court for a redetermination of
the deficiency. Sec. 6213(a).
An exception to the normal 90-day filing period arises where
the taxpayer has filed a petition for relief under the Bankruptcy
Code. In particular, 11 U.S.C. sec. 362(a)(8) (1994) provides in
pertinent part:
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this
section, a petition filed under section 301, 302, or
303 of this title, * * * operates as a stay, applicable
to all entities, of--
* * * * * * *
(8) the commencement or continuation of a
proceeding before the United States Tax Court
concerning the debtor.
In short, the filing of a bankruptcy petition invokes the
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011