Joseph D. and Wanda S. Lunsford - Page 10




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          determination to proceed with the collection of the taxes in                
          issue, and a timely filed petition.  To the extent that Meyer v.            
          Commissioner, 115 T.C. 417 (2000), holds that we must first look            
          behind the determination to see whether a proper hearing was                
          offered in order to have jurisdiction, Meyer is overruled.                  
               We are, of course, cognizant of the role stare decisis plays           
          in this Court and in other Federal courts, especially in the                
          context of statutory construction.  See, e.g., Sec. State Bank v.           
          Commissioner, 111 T.C. 210, 213-214 (1998), affd. 214 F.3d 1254             
          (10th Cir. 2000).  Nevertheless, when this Court decided Meyer v.           
          Commissioner, supra, lien and levy cases under section 6330 were            
          just starting to reach this Court.  In the nascent stages of our            
          section 6330 jurisprudence, we made a decision limiting our                 
          jurisdiction.  After almost a year of experience in dealing with            
          lien and levy cases, we have come to the conclusion that the                
          jurisdictional analysis in Meyer was incorrect and has resulted             
          in unjustified delay in the resolution of cases.  Whether there             
          was an appropriate hearing opportunity, or whether the hearing              
          was conducted properly, or whether the hearing was fair, or                 
          whether it was held by an impartial Appeals officer, or whether             
          any of the other nonjurisdictional provisions of section 6330               
          were properly followed, will all be factors that we must take               
          into consideration under section 6330 in deciding such cases.               
          But none of these factors should preclude us from exercising our            






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