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Section 6212(a) authorizes the Secretary or his delegate,
upon determining that there is a deficiency in income tax, to
send a notice of deficiency "to the taxpayer by certified mail or
registered mail." Section 6212(b)(1) provides that a notice of
deficiency, in respect of an income tax, "shall be sufficient" if
it is "mailed to the taxpayer at his last known address".
Generally, the Commissioner has no duty to effectuate delivery of
the notice after it is mailed. Monge v. Commissioner, supra at
33.
Neither section 6212 nor the regulation promulgated
thereunder, section 301.6212-1, Proced. & Admin. Regs., defines
what constitutes a taxpayer's "last known address". We have
defined it as the taxpayer's last permanent address or legal
residence known by the Commissioner, or the last known temporary
address of a definite duration to which the taxpayer has directed
the Commissioner to send all communications during such a period.
Weinroth v. Commissioner, 74 T.C. 430, 435 (1980); Alta Sierra
Vista, Inc. v. Commissioner, 62 T.C. 367, 374 (1974), affd.
without published opinion 538 F.2d 334 (9th Cir. 1976). Stated
otherwise, it is the address to which, in light of all the
surrounding facts and circumstances, the Commissioner reasonably
believed the taxpayer wished the notice to be sent. Weinroth v.
Commissioner, supra. The relevant focus is thus on the
Commissioner's knowledge, rather than on what in fact may have
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