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approval. On January 13, 1995, Becker (1) signed and approved
the appeals transmittal and case memorandum, (2) prepared a
letter informing petitioners that the settlement offer had been
approved, and (3) delivered the documents to the records office
of the Cincinnati office which had 5 days to transfer the
documents to Winkler for his review and signature. Taking into
account transmission time, including weekends, it is reasonable
to conclude that Winkler would have received the documents by
about January 25, 1995.
The foregoing activities do not constitute ministerial acts
because they are acts prerequisite to the processing of the
settlement agreement between petitioners and respondent. Section
301.6404-2T(b)(1), Temporary Proced. & Admin. Regs., supra,
provides that “The term ‘ministerial act’ means a procedural or
mechanical act * * * that occurs during the processing of a
taxpayer’s case after all prerequisites to the act, such as
conferences and review by supervisors have taken place.”
Rowland’s preparation of the appeals transmittal and case
memorandum and Becker’s review thereof thus are not ministerial
acts. Id.
We conclude that, for the period from December 14, 1994,
through about January 25, 1995, there was no error or delay by an
IRS employee in performing a ministerial act, within the meaning
of section 6404(e)(1)(A), and thus respondent did not have
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