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act that does not involve the exercise of judgment or discretion,
and that occurs during the processing of a taxpayer’s case after
all prerequisites to the act, such as conferences and review by
13(...continued)
unagreed issues, the notice has been prepared and reviewed
(including review by District Counsel, if necessary) and any
other relevant prerequisites have been completed, the
issuance of the notice of deficiency is a ministerial act.
The Commissioner may (in his or her discretion) abate
interest attributable to a delay in issuing the notice.
Example (3). A taxpayer invested in a tax shelter and
reported a loss from the tax shelter on the taxpayer’s
income tax return. Internal Revenue Service personnel
conducted an extensive examination of the tax shelter, and
the processing of the taxpayer’s case was delayed during
such examination. Because the period of limitations on
assessment was about to expire, the taxpayer executed a
consent to extend the period of limitations. The time
required to process the taxpayer’s case was not a result of
a delay in performing a ministerial act; consequently,
interest attributable to this period cannot be abated under
paragraph (a) of this section.
Example (4). A revenue agent is sent to a training
course, and the agent’s supervisor decides not to reassign
the agent’s cases. During the training course, no work is
done on the cases assigned to the agent. Neither the
decision to send the agent to the training course nor the
decision not to reassign the agent’s cases is, under the
circumstances, a ministerial act. Thus, interest
attributable to the delay cannot be abated.
Example (5). A taxpayer who claimed a loss from a tax
shelter on the taxpayer’s income tax return is notified that
the Internal Revenue Service intends to examine the return.
However, because of other work priorities and resource
limitations, a decision is made not to commence the
examination for an extended period thereafter. The decision
not to commence the examination involves the exercise of
judgment and discretion and is not a ministerial act;
consequently, interest attributable to the period of delay
cannot be abated.
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