- 15 - opportunity for an Appeals conference, such refusal or failure, considered alone, would not have rendered the second notice of deficiency or the ensuing assessment invalid. See Cupp v. Commissioner, 65 T.C. 68 (1975), affd. without published opinion 559 F.2d 1207 (3d Cir. 1977); see also Wisniewski v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1989-60. Accordingly, petitioners are not entitled to question the merits of the underlying tax liability for their 1995 tax year. With respect to the 1996 and 1997 tax liabilities, petitioners reported income tax liabilities, which respondent was entitled to and did assess. We surmise that respondent permitted petitioners to question the underlying merits of those liabilities because they did not have that opportunity before the proposed collection activity. See, e.g., Horn v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2002-207. When the validity of the underlying tax liability is properly in issue, we review the matter on a de novo basis. See Hoffman v. Commissioner, supra; Sego v. Commissioner, supra. Petitioners “self-assessed” the 1996 and 1997 tax liabilities by reporting such liabilities on their income tax returns. The liability arose from Mr. Anderson’s reported income from his fishing activity. The Appeals officer suggested that petitioners file amended tax returns for 1996 and 1997 if they wished to claim that they were not liable for tax.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011