- 10 - transmission of the mail or the cause of such delay.3 Under the circumstances, we hold that the petition was not timely filed. As a final matter, petitioners erroneously contend that the petition should be deemed to have been timely filed pursuant to the common-law "mailbox rule". The common-law mailbox rule provides that proof of a properly mailed document creates a presumption that the document was delivered and actually received by the addressee. See Estate of Wood v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. 793, 798-799 (1989), affd. 909 F.2d 1156 (8th Cir. 1990), and cases cited therein. There is no question in this case that the petition was delivered to the Court on March 8, 2000. However, petitioners must establish that the petition was timely mailed to the Court. Given the lack of satisfactory proof that the petition was placed in the mail within the 90-day filing period prescribed in section 6213(a), petitioners' reliance on the common-law mailbox rule is misplaced. 3 We agree with respondent that the New York Times article that petitioners offered into evidence in this case contains hearsay; nevertheless, we admit the article into evidence. Although the article indicates that the U.S. Postal Service experienced difficulties delivering certified mail in various jurisdictions during the period April through July 2000, the article does not mention Washington, D.C., as a trouble spot, and we do not consider the article to be persuasive evidence that the delay in the delivery of the petition in this case was due to a delay in the transmission of the mail, or the cause of such delay.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
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