- 10 - parties, including representatives of Sadisco, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and certain purchasers of petitioners’ rebuilt vehicles. On reply brief, respondent concedes that in the course of preparing for trial, respondent’s trial counsel contacted potential witnesses without advance notice to petitioners. Respondent contends that these contacts did not violate section 7602(c). We agree with respondent. Section 7602(c) restricts the IRS’s third-party contacts “with respect to the determination or collection of the tax liability”. The statute does not expressly indicate whether the IRS’s trial preparations in the course of a court proceeding should be considered to be “with respect to the determination or collection of the tax liability”. The proposed regulations state that “Section 7602(c) does not apply to contacts made in the course of a pending court proceeding.” Section 301.7602-2(f)(7), Proposed Proced. & Admin. Regs., 66 Fed. Reg. 84 (Jan. 2, 2001). Proposed regulations are given no greater weight than a position advanced by respondent on brief. See F.W. Woolworth Co. v. Commissioner, 54 T.C. 1233, 1265-1266 (1970). Nevertheless, they can be useful guidelines where, as here, they closely follow the legislative history of the statutory provision in question. See Van Wyk v. Commissioner, 113 T.C. 440, 444 (1999).Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011