Kin Sang Chan - Page 11




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                    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.                       
          The deficiency or payment, therefore, must be attributable to               
          an error or delay by an officer or employee (employee) of the               
          IRS in the performance of a ministerial act.  Id.                           
               Temporary regulations interpreting section 6404(e) define              
          the term “ministerial act” as “a procedural or mechanical act               
          that does not involve the exercise of judgment or discretion,               
          and that occurs during the processing of a taxpayer's case                  
          after all prerequisites to the act, such as conferences and                 
          review by supervisors, have taken place.”  Sec. 301.6404-                   
          2T(b)(1), Temporary Proced. & Admin. Regs., 52 Fed. Reg. 30163              
          (Aug. 13, 1987).3  A decision concerning the proper application             
          of Federal tax law, or other Federal or State law, is not a                 
          ministerial act.  Id.                                                       
               Congress intended for the Commissioner to abate interest               
          “where failure to abate interest would be widely perceived as               
          grossly unfair.”  H. Rept. 99-426, at 844 (1985), 1986-3 C.B.               


               3  Final regulations under sec. 6404, issued in 1998 and               
          generally applicable to interest accruing on deficiencies or                
          payments of tax for taxable years beginning after July 30, 1996,            
          provide the same definition of ministerial act.  Sec. 301.6404-             
          2(b)(2), Proced. & Admin. Regs.                                             






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