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Petitioners challenge the validity of respondent’s notice of
deficiency claiming that they have been subjected to multiple
audits for their 1997 tax year. Although they concede that their
railroad retirement benefits are taxable, they challenge
respondent’s calculations.
There is no express limit on the number of examinations that
may be pursued by the IRS for the same taxable year. See Digby
v. Commissioner, 103 T.C. 441, 447 (1994). Section 7605(b),
however, protects taxpayers from repetitive investigations
undertaken by the IRS as a means of harassment. See Curtis v.
Commissioner, 84 T.C. 1349, 1352 (1985); Collins v. Commissioner,
61 T.C. 693, 698-699 (1974). It provides:
No taxpayer shall be subjected to unnecessary
examination or investigations, and only one inspection
of a taxpayer’s books of account shall be made for each
taxable year unless the taxpayer requests otherwise or
unless the Secretary, after investigation, notifies the
taxpayer in writing that an additional inspection is
necessary. [Sec. 7605(b).]
In petitioners’ case, respondent has not violated either of
the two prohibitions contained in section 7605(b). Petitioners
have not been subjected to an unnecessary examination or
investigation, nor have their books and records been reexamined
without written notice thereof.
Nothing in the record suggests that petitioners were
subjected to an unnecessary examination. Section 7605(b) was not
meant to restrict the scope of respondent's legitimate effort to
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