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a taxpayer in writing by an officer or employee of the IRS,
acting in his or her official capacity. Petitioners, however, do
not allege that they have been assessed any penalty or addition
to tax attributable to written advice.
The advice petitioners testified they received and relied
upon does not constitute a ministerial or managerial act, and it
was received well before petitioners were contacted by the IRS
regarding their 1996 and 1997 tax years. Moreover, petitioners
learned in 1997 when they met with Mr. Bibb that the advice was
erroneous.
Finally, petitioners contend that respondent erroneously
assessed penalties against them for tax years 1996 and 1997 in
disregard of the terms of their settlement agreement and the
decision documents entered in their cases. Petitioners have
stipulated that the penalties listed on their monthly statement
from the IRS are penalties for failure to make payments under
the terms of their installment agreement. These penalties are
unrelated to the section 6662(a) penalties conceded by respondent
in settling petitioners’ cases.
The record does not support the existence of any erroneous
or dilatory ministerial or managerial actions on the part of
respondent, unreasonable or otherwise, which gave rise to
assessments of interest with respect to petitioners’ 1996 and
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Last modified: May 25, 2011