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This section provides that “If the person requests a hearing * * *,
such hearing shall be held by the Internal Revenue Service Office
of Appeals”.3 (Emphasis added.) The entire statutory scheme of
section 6330 contemplates that there can be a determination only
after a hearing is held. The first reference in section 6330 to
the “determination” is in paragraph (3) of subsection (c) entitled
“Matters considered at hearing”. Indeed, section 6330(d), which
provides for the taxpayer to appeal a determination issued pursuant
to section 6330(c)(3) to this Court (or in certain cases to the
District Court), is entitled “Proceeding after hearing”. See
Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 234
(1998)(stating that the heading of a section is a tool available
for the resolution of a doubt about the meaning of a statute).
The determination is the end product of the hearing process.
Thus, it is contrary to section 6330 to conclude that a purported
determination, prepared without the benefit of a hearing, is valid.
In short, either there can be no determination without a hearing or
2(...continued)
statute. Sec. 301.6330-1T(d)(1), Proced. & Admin. Regs., 64 Fed.
Reg. 3410 (Jan. 22, 1999) (“If a taxpayer requests a CDP hearing
under section 6330(a)(3)(B) * * *, the CDP hearing will be held
with Appeals.”).
3Any reference to a request for a hearing shall be
considered a reference to a request meeting the requirements of
sec. 6330(a)(3)(B) (i.e., a timely request) unless otherwise
stated.
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