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performing a ministerial act. Sec. 6404(e)(1).7 A ministerial
act means a procedural or mechanical act that does not involve
the exercise of judgment. Lee v. Commissioner, 113 T.C. 145
(1999); sec. 301.6404-2T, Temporary Proced. & Admin. Regs., 52
Fed. Reg. 30163 (Aug. 13, 1987). The relief contemplated by
section 6404(e) requires the existence of some “erroneous or
dilatory performance of a ministerial act” by the Commissioner’s
employee that resulted in the interest that the taxpayer is
seeking to have abated.
In this case, petitioners state that they have a “good faith
belief that delays occurred in performing ministerial acts”, but
they have nowhere identified those ministerial acts or what
delays were caused as a result of those unidentified ministerial
acts.
We have reviewed the history of the examination of
petitioners’ 1989 Federal income tax return as set forth in the
Appeals officer’s chronology of events and find nothing out of
the ordinary in either the sequence of events or the passage of
time from event to event. Petitioners’ 1989 Federal income tax
7 Sec. 6404(e) was amended by sec. 301 of the Taxpayer Bill
of Rights 2, Pub. L. 104-168, 110 Stat. 1457 (1996), to permit
the Commissioner to abate interest with respect to an
“unreasonable” error or delay resulting from “managerial” or
ministerial acts. The amendment is effective for interest
accruing with respect to deficiencies or payments for tax years
beginning after July 30, 1996, and is therefore inapplicable
here.
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