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In turn, the administrative hearing provides the Appeals officer
with the opportunity to determine whether the Commissioner has
followed applicable laws and administrative procedures with
regard to the assessment and collection action in dispute and to
develop a record with respect to issues raised by the taxpayer.
In short, the meeting between the taxpayer and the Appeals
officer is face-to-face, private, arranged for the discussion of
specific matters, and formal in the sense that it is prescribed
by law.6 As previously indicated, these are all characteristics
of an “interview” as that term is commonly defined.
Second, we reject the distinction that respondent seeks to
draw between what he describes as the inquisitorial nature of a
taxpayer interview by the Examination or Collection Division and
the voluntary nature of a section 6330 hearing before the Appeals
Office. It is our view that the section 6330 hearing is an
integral part of the tax collection process and therefore relates
to the “collection of any tax” within the meaning of section
7521(a)(1). After all, the Commissioner generally may not
collect a tax by levy or permit a notice of Federal tax lien to
remain on the public record without first offering the taxpayer
an administrative hearing pursuant to section 6330. A taxpayer
who fails to participate in such a hearing may expect to receive
6 In contrast, the procedure involving the conduct of the
meeting is informal. See Davis v. Commissioner, 115 T.C. 35, 41
(2000), where sec. 7521(a) was not considered.
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