John J. Kaiser and Sofia P. Kaiser - Page 4

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          deficiencies in petitioners' 1980 and 1981 Federal income taxes.            
          A deficiency is generally defined as an amount by which the                 
          income, gift, or estate tax due under the law exceeds the amount            
          of such tax shown on the return.  Sec. 6211; Bregin v.                      
          Commissioner, 74 T.C. 1097, 1102 (1980).                                    
               Section 6212(a) provides that if the Secretary determines              
          that there is a deficiency, he is authorized to send notice of              
          such deficiency to the taxpayer.  Pursuant to section 6213(a),              
          the taxpayer may then file a petition with the Tax Court, within            
          a specified time, for a redetermination of the deficiency.                  
          Section 6214 provides that this Court has jurisdiction to                   
          redetermine the correct amount of tax deficiencies that are                 
          contested in timely petitions filed by taxpayers.  Sec. 6214(a);            
          see also sec. 6213.  If this Court finds that there is no                   
          deficiency and further finds that the taxpayer has made an                  
          overpayment of tax for the same taxable year, section 6512(b)               
          provides that "the Tax Court shall have jurisdiction to determine           
          the amount of such overpayment".                                            
               Accordingly, the function of this Court is to decide the               
          correctness of the deficiency determined by respondent and the              
          amount thereof, if any, or that there is an overpayment of tax.             
          See Hannan v. Commissioner, 52 T.C. 787 (1969).  The fact that              
          petitioners may have made payments towards the deficiencies                 
          determined by respondent does not affect our ability to decide              





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