Mary Lou and Allen E. Jones - Page 6




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          “Last Date to Petition the Tax Court”, here the second date                 
          appeared in close proximity to the words “In Re:  Due Process               
          Appeal (Tax Court)”.  A determination letter triggering a                   
          taxpayer’s right to appeal to the Tax Court pursuant to section             
          6330(d)(1), unlike a notice of deficiency triggering a taxpayer’s           
          right to petition the Tax Court to redetermine a deficiency                 
          pursuant to section 6213(a), need not show the last day on which            
          the taxpayer may file an appeal.  Cf. Rochelle v. Commissioner,             
          116 T.C. 356 (2001), affd. 293 F.3d 740 (5th Cir. 2002).                    
          Although the appearance of the February 16 date may have been               
          confusing to the petitioners, we disagree with their                        
          characterization of such date as demonstrating that “[t]he Notice           
          on its face clearly states that the Due Process Appeal to the Tax           
          Court is [due] February 16, 2002.”  The Notices do no such thing,           
          particularly in light of their clear admonition that, to be                 
          effective, the petition must be filed with the Tax Court within             
          30 days “from the date of this letter.”                                     
               When they received the notices, on December 20, 2001,                  
          petitioners had 28 days in which to either clarify that the 30-             
          day period ran from December 18, or file a protective petition              
          with this Court pending later clarification of the due date.                
          Instead, they waited until January 23, 6 days after the 30-day              
          period had expired, to seek clarification.  Under the                       
          circumstances, the equities of the situation do not favor them.             






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