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Under section 6404(e)(1)2, the Commissioner may abate part
or all of an assessment of interest on any deficiency or payment
of income tax to the extent that any error or delay in payment is
attributable to erroneous or dilatory performance of a
ministerial act by an officer or employee of the Commissioner.
For abatement to be appropriate, the taxpayer must not have
contributed significantly to the error or delay. Congress
intended for the Commissioner to abate interest under section
2Sec. 6404(e)(1), as enacted in 1986 and as applicable here,
provides:
(e) Assessments of Interest Attributable to Errors
and Delays by Internal Revenue Service.--
(1) In general.--In the case of any
assessment of interest on–
(A) any deficiency attributable in whole
or in part to any error or delay by an
officer or employee of the Internal Revenue
Service (acting in his official capacity) in
performing a ministerial act, or
(B) any payment of any tax described in
section 6212(a) to the extent that any delay
in such payment is attributable to such
officer or employee being dilatory in
performing a ministerial act,
the Secretary may abate the assessment of all or
any part of such interest for any period. For
purposes of the preceding sentence, an error or
delay shall be taken into account only if no
significant aspect of such error or delay can be
attributed to the taxpayer involved, and after the
Internal Revenue Service has contacted the
taxpayer in writing with respect to such
deficiency or payment.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011