Service Engineering Trust - Page 4




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          administrative determination for abuse of discretion.  See id.;             
          see also Goza v. Commissioner, 114 T.C. 176, 181-182 (2000).                
               Petitioners do not dispute the underlying liabilities but              
          contend that section 6330(c)(1) requires the production of Form             
          23 C.  This Court previously has addressed such a contention,               
          holding that “it was not an abuse of discretion for Appeals to              
          rely on a Form 4340 * * * for the purpose of complying with                 
          section 6330(c)(1).”  Davis v. Commissioner, supra at 41.                   
          Accordingly, respondent’s administrative determination was not an           
          abuse of discretion.                                                        
               Petitioners’ representative stated that he did not                     
          participate in the scheduled hearing because he had not received            
          responses to the interrogatories.  Cf. id. (stating that section            
          6330 does not provide authority to subpoena documents or                    
          witnesses).  We conclude that petitioners acquiesced to the                 
          telephone format, yet chose not to participate.  In Katz v.                 
          Commissioner, 115 T.C. 329, 331-332 (2000), an Appeals officer              
          scheduled a hearing at an Appeals Office, and the taxpayer                  
          refused to attend because the location was inconvenient.  We held           
          that the parties’ subsequent telephone conversation, in which the           
          Appeals officer heard and considered the taxpayer’s arguments,              
          met the requirements of a section 6320(b) hearing.  See id. at              
          337-338.  We have no evidence as to whether respondent offered to           
          hold a face-to-face hearing.  We note that, at trial, petitioners           






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