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6213(a). Pursuant to section 7502(a), a timely mailed petition
will be treated as though it were timely filed.
A. Taxable Year 1999
There is no question that respondent mailed the notice of
deficiency for 1999 to petitioner on December 6, 2000. However,
the petition was not filed with the Court until April 24, 2002, a
date more than 16 months after the mailing of the notice of
deficiency. Moreover, the envelope in which the petition was
mailed to the Court bears a U.S. Postal Service postmark date of
April 15, 2002. Under these circumstances, it follows that the
petition was not filed within the 90-day period prescribed by
section 6213(a) and that we must dismiss this case for lack of
jurisdiction.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, because of the suggestion
that the notice of deficiency for 1999 was not mailed to
petitioner at his last known address, the issue for decision is
whether the dismissal of this case should be based on
petitioner's failure to file a timely petition under section
6213(a) or whether dismissal should be based on respondent's
failure to issue a valid notice of deficiency under section 6212.
If jurisdiction is lacking because of respondent's failure to
issue a valid notice of deficiency, we shall dismiss on that
ground rather than for lack of a timely filed petition. Pietanza
v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. 729, 735-736 (1989), affd. without
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