James A. Rochelle - Page 12





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          After noting the requirement that the Commissioner specify the              
          petition date in the notice of deficiency, the Senate Finance               
          Committee report explained that the taxpayer “should be able to             
          rely on the computation of that period by the IRS.”  S. Rept.               
          105-174, at 90 (1998), 1998-3 C.B. 537, 626; see also H. Rept.              
          105-364 (Part 1), at 71 (1998), 1998-3 C.B. 373, 443.  This                 
          passage indicates that the justification behind the addition of             
          the last sentence of section 6213(a) was to protect those                   
          taxpayers who, absent some form of relief, would have                       
          detrimentally relied on the Commissioner’s miscalculation of the            
          petition date.                                                              
               The theory of detrimental reliance assumes the actual                  
          provision of misleading information upon which a party could                
          rely.  This case, however, does not involve the provision of                
          misinformation.  Although petitioner appears to argue on brief              
          that the failure to provide the petition date in the notice led             
          him to believe that he did not have to file his petition within             
          the 90-day period,4 we find such argument implausible.  As                  
          discussed above, the notice of deficiency issued to petitioner              
          clearly provided that his petition had to be filed within 90 days           
          of the mailing of the notice, and it emphasized the consequence             


               4  Petitioner’s specific argument reads as follows:                    
          “Petitioner received the notice of deficiency, but did not file a           
          Petition with the Tax Court within 90 days from the date of the             
          notice of deficiency, since the notice of deficiency did not                
          specify the last date on which Petitioner could file a Petition.”           




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