Michael Rising Sun - Page 4




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          determining a deficiency, to send a notice of deficiency to the             
          taxpayer by certified or registered mail.  A notice of deficiency           
          is sufficient if it is mailed to the taxpayer at the taxpayer's             
          "last known address".  Sec. 6212(b)(1); Frieling v. Commissioner,           
          81 T.C. 42, 52 (1983).  If a notice of deficiency is mailed to a            
          taxpayer's last known address, actual receipt of the notice is              
          immaterial.  King v. Commissioner, 857 F.2d 676, 679 (9th Cir.              
          1988), affg. 88 T.C. 1042 (1987).                                           
               Although the phrase "last known address" is not defined in             
          the Code or the regulations thereunder, we have held that a                 
          taxpayer's last known address is the address shown on the                   
          taxpayer's most recently filed return, absent clear and concise             
          notice of a different address.  Abeles v. Commissioner, 91 T.C.             
          1019, 1035 (1988).  A taxpayer is obliged to provide the                    
          Commissioner with clear and concise notice of a change of                   
          address, but the Commissioner must exercise reasonable care and             
          diligence in ascertaining the taxpayer's correct address.                   
          Frieling v. Commissioner, supra at 49.  In deciding whether the             
          Commissioner mailed a notice to a taxpayer at the taxpayer's last           
          known address, the relevant inquiry "pertains to respondent's               
          knowledge rather than to what may in fact be the taxpayer's most            
          current address."  Id.  Once the Commissioner has mailed the                
          notice of deficiency to the taxpayer's last known address, the              
          Commissioner’s reasonable diligence obligation has been                     






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