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his/her most recent return, the taxpayer must clearly indicate
that the former address is no longer to be used.” Id. at 681.
After becoming aware of a taxpayer’s change of address, the
Commissioner must exercise reasonable care and diligence in
ascertaining and mailing the notice of deficiency to the correct
address. Monge v. Commissioner, supra at 33. This obligation,
however, arises only if the Commissioner becomes aware of an
address change prior to mailing the deficiency notice. Id.
The taxpayer’s “most recently filed return” is the return
which has been properly processed by an IRS service center such
that the address appearing on the return was available to the
Commissioner’s agent when that agent prepared the notice of
deficiency concerning the previously filed return. Abeles v.
Commissioner, supra at 1035. The address from the more recently
filed return is available to the agent issuing the notice of
deficiency concerning the previously filed return if such address
could be obtained by a computer generation of an IRS computer
transcript using the taxpayer’s identification number. Id.
Petitioner’s contention that the notice of deficiency for
1997 was not sent to his last known address is incorrect for
several reasons.
First, petitioner did not file a “return” for 1998. The
1998 Form 1040 that petitioner sent to the IRS was unsigned.
“[I]n order for a Form 1040 to constitute a valid income tax
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Last modified: May 25, 2011