Raymond O. Wright - Page 4

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          primarily during the administrative stage of this case but also             
          to some extent after the filing of the petition.  Specifically,             
          petitioner faults respondent's failure at any time to explain to            
          petitioner's satisfaction the grounds for the denial of                     
          petitioner's claims of reasonable cause for his failure to file             
          in 1987 and 1989; he further cites errors and delays in                     
          respondent's handling of his case from the time he contacted                
          respondent in 1991 to ascertain what he owed until the issuance             
          of a notice of deficiency in 1995; he contends that respondent              
          withheld evidence; and finally petitioner alleges that                      
          respondent's "decision-making process" with respect to him "was             
          (racially) biased and arbitrary".                                           
               As to respondent's actions prior to the issuance of the                
          notice of deficiency, it is well settled that this Court                    
          generally will not look behind the notice of deficiency to                  
          examine the evidence or the propriety of the motives,                       
          administrative policies, or procedures utilized by respondent in            
          making a determination.  Proesel v. Commissioner, 73 T.C. 600,              
          605 (1979); Greenberg's Express, Inc. v. Commissioner, 62 T.C.              
          324, 327 (1974); Human Engg. Inst. v. Commissioner, 61 T.C. 61,             
          66 (1973).  The rationale for this stance is that a trial before            
          this Court is a proceeding de novo, and our determination must be           
          based upon the merits of the case as presented here and not upon            
          a record developed at the administrative level.  Greenberg's                





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