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Internal Revenue Service, accusing supposed adversaries of false
statements and fabrication of documents, and belatedly raising
new issues.
The record in this case contains a copy of a notice of
deficiency dated August 13, 1997, addressed to Davina Sego; a
Form 3877 indicating that the notice was sent on the date it
bears; corroborating Postal Service forms and testimony
indicating attempted delivery of the statutory notice to Davina
Sego at the address acknowledged by petitioners to be their
residence; and evidence that Davina Sego would not have
petitioned the Court in response to the statutory notice of
deficiency if she had actually received it. In the absence of
clear evidence to the contrary, the presumptions of official
regularity and of delivery justify the conclusion that the
statutory notice was sent and that attempts to deliver were made
in the manner contended by respondent. See United States v.
Zolla, 724 F.2d 808 (9th Cir. 1984); United States v. Ahrens, 530
F.2d 781 (8th Cir. 1976).
Davina Sego testified that she “did not recall” receiving
the Postal Service notices and asserted that the statutory notice
was “fabricated”. Her alleged subjective belief is not evidence,
and there is no evidence of irregularity in this case. See also
Pietanza v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. 729 (1989), affd. 935 F.2d 1282
(3d Cir. 1991). Based on the Court’s observation of petitioners,
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