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adequate. Respondent is not bound by advice given to a taxpayer
which is incorrect as a matter of law. Dixon v. United States,
381 U.S. 68 (1965); Auto. Club v. Commissioner, 353 U.S. 180
(1957).
Finally, we turn to several statements made by petitioners
in the petition which have not been addressed. First,
petitioners state that they were “never allowed an audit” for
1996 and 1997, and that these years were “thrown together” with
1995. Petitioners also state that respondent failed to enter
into a settlement with them concerning the years in issue. These
facts, even if true, are not relevant to our decision. Our role
is to decide the correct amounts of the deficiencies put in issue
by the statutory notice of deficiency, sec. 6213(a), and
respondent’s actions prior to its issuance generally do not
affect what is by law the correct amounts of the deficiencies,
see Greenberg’s Express, Inc. v. Commissioner, 62 T.C. 324, 327-
328 (1974). Second, petitioners state that they were unaware of
certain laws governing the substantiation of deductions for
charitable contributions, and that “you keep changing the laws.”
This Court does not make the law, we merely apply it as it is
written. Metzger Trust v. Commissioner, 76 T.C. 42, 59-60
(1981), affd. 693 F.2d 459 (5th Cir. 1982).
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