Beverlee Cochrane - Page 6




                                        - 6 -                                         
          In support of her position, petitioner states, inter alia:                  
               Why did it take Respondent nine years to notify Peti-                  
               tioner that they did not have her returns on file for                  
               the years 1989 through 1993, if, in fact, they did not                 
               have the returns, unless Respondent, through laxity and                
               clerical bungling, lost track of Petitioner’s returns;                 
               or else, deceitfully and intentionally, with malice                    
               aforethought, submerged Petitioner’s returns and de-                   
               ferred contact with her, all the while tabulating                      
               penalties and interest that would have been far less                   
               significant had the “Total” lines been timely drawn?                   
               The Notice of Deficiency sent to Petitioner in January                 
               of 1998 clearly witnesses that the potential for stun-                 
               ning penalties and interest is increased proportionate                 
               to the delay in notification * * * .                                   
                        *    *    *    *    *    *    *                              
               If the IRS is allowed to collect monies for alleged                    
               “unfiled” returns from 10 years past, when taxpayers                   
               are only required to keep them for three, what’s to                    
               stop them from seeking to collect for returns they                     
               claim to have no record of that date back 20 years, or                 
               more?  The taxpayer should have some means of protect-                 
               ing him-or herself from the burden of filing proof when                
               the date of notification exceeds the requirement date                  
               for keeping such return.  If Respondent can’t keep                     
               track of a taxpayer in this high-tech age, when every-                 
               thing about everyone is easily knowable and privacy                    
               rights are flagrantly violated by legions of both                      
               professional and personal snoops-–many of them employed                
               by Respondent * * * , then Respondent deserves to lose                 
               any revenue that would accrue from its assessments,                    
               whether taxpayer has proof of filing or not.  If Re-                   
               spondent deliberately defers contact with a taxpayer in                
               order to subsequently collect greater penalties and                    
               interest, then this would constitute not only malicious                
               intent, but fraud.                                                     
                         *    *    *    *    *    *    *                              
                    It is convenient-–and necessary, in the absence of                
               proof--for Respondent to assert that Petitioner did not                
               file taxes for the years 1989 through 1993, though it                  
               is impossible to prove such assertion.  In fact, Peti-                 
               tioner would not dare willfully omit a filing, in view                 
               of the harassment visited upon her by Respondent in                    





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