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Nowhere in petitioners' petition or amended petition do they
state any facts indicating that they did not receive the income
that was the subject of the notices of deficiency. The notices
of deficiency include as unreported income "employee
compensation". At the hearing on this motion petitioners admit
working during the years in issue and to being "compensated" for
that work. The notices of deficiency compute petitioners' tax
liability using the appropriate tax rate. The notices
unquestionably meet the minimum requirements; the Commissioner
properly "determined" the deficiency within the meaning of
section 6212(a).
At the hearing on this motion, apparently reading from
section 6020(a), petitioners made much of the fact that
substitutes for returns (SFR's) prepared by the Commissioner in
this case were not signed by them. But where a taxpayer fails to
file a return, section 6020(b) allows the Secretary (or the
District Director or other authorized internal revenue officer or
employee, sec. 301.6020-1(b)(1), Proced. & Admin. Regs.) to
prepare one "from his own knowledge and from such information as
he can obtain through testimony or otherwise". This section is,
however, permissive, not mandatory. United States v. Stafford,
983 F.2d 25, 27 (5th Cir. 1993); Roat v. Commissioner, 847 F.2d
1379, 1381 (9th Cir. 1988). Further, any inadequacies in SFR's
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