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errors or delays in the payment of tax to the extent that such
errors or delays are attributable to the Commissioner being
erroneous or dilatory in performing ministerial acts. See sec.
6404(e)(1)(B); Gross v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2000-44.
Petitioners claim that respondent’s untimely processing of
their refund claim for 1985 delayed the ultimate payment of their
1981 tax liability. It appears that petitioners seek an
abatement of interest pursuant to section 6404(e)(1)(B). We
therefore analyze petitioners’ claim under that provision.
Petitioners assume that the late payment of the outstanding
tax liability for 1981 and the associated accrual of interest are
attributable (within the meaning of section 6404(e)(1)(B)) to the
various steps they cite with regard to the processing of the
refund claim for 1985. We, however, cannot characterize those
steps as the cause of the delay in payment of the outstanding tax
liability for 1981. The acts described by petitioners are part
of the administrative process of resolving the refund claim for
1985 and not a direct part of the payment process for the 1981
tax year, a different tax year. The only relation between the
refund claim for 1985 and the payment of the 1981 tax liability
is that created by petitioners in deferring the payment of the
1981 tax liability on the assumption that the refund claim for
1985 would be granted. We thus do not find the requisite
connection between the alleged errors or delays in the procedures
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