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tax lien) with respect to petitioners’ unpaid liabilities for
1997 and 1998. On or about July 9, 2001, in response to the
notice of tax lien, petitioners filed Form 12153, Request for a
Collection Due Process Hearing (Form 12153), and requested a
hearing with respondent’s Appeals Office (Appeals Office).
Petitioners did not notify the Appeals Office in that form that
they intended to make an audio recording of their Appeals Office
hearing. Petitioners attached a document to their Form 12153
(petitioners’ attachment to Form 12153) that contained state-
ments, contentions, arguments, and requests that the Court finds
to be frivolous and/or groundless.6
On or about May 3, 2002, a settlement officer with the
Appeals Office (settlement officer) contacted petitioners by
telephone and informed them that, pursuant to a directive issued
on May 2, 2002, audio and stenographic recordings of Appeals
Office hearings would no longer be permitted.7
6Petitioners’ attachment to Form 12153 contained statements,
contentions, arguments, and requests that are similar to the
statements, contentions, arguments, and requests contained in the
attachments to Forms 12153 filed with the Internal Revenue
Service by certain other taxpayers with cases in the Court. See,
e.g., Copeland v. Commissioner, supra; Smith v. Commissioner,
supra.
7From 1989 until May 2, 2002, IRS Appeals had permitted
audio recordings of hearings before it. See Notice 89-51, 1989-1
C.B. 691; Litigation Guideline Memorandum GL-17. On May 2, 2002,
IRS Appeals, in an unpublished internal memorandum to all IRS
Appeals Area Directors, ended the audio recording of conferences
or hearings before it that it had previously allowed, and the
(continued...)
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