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The notices were sent to petitioners by certified mail, and
petitioner wife signed for each on December 20, 2001.
Each notice was date stamped “DEC 18 2001" in the upper left
hand corner next to the word “Date”. Vertically listed in the
upper right hand corner of each notice were various items of
information, including information regarding the person to
contact at the Internal Revenue Service and a telephone number to
call. The last item was the subject matter of the notice: “In
Re: Due Process Appeal (Tax Court)”. Each notice bore a second
date stamp, “FEB 16 2002", immediately under or next to that last
information item. Each notice also contained the following
sentence (comprising a separate paragraph) in the body of the
notice:
If you want to dispute this determination in court, you
must file a petition with the United States Tax Court
for a redetermination within 30 days from the date of
this letter.
Each notice also contained the following language:
The time limit for filing your petition is fixed by
law. The courts cannot consider your case if you file
late. * * *
Petitioners waited until January 23, 2002, to inquire about
the significance of the two dates stamped on the notices. On
that date, petitioner husband inquired of Appeals Officer Dianne
Villa about such significance. Ms. Villa informed him that he
had only 30 days from the date of the notices to appeal to the
Tax Court and that the February 16 date was probably an internal
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