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respect of the deficiency” on our docket and suspended the
limitations period.14
B. Failure To Attach the Notice
Petitioner further contends that because Mr. Berg attached
only Amilu’s notice to the petition, the petition was not filed
with respect to petitioner’s share of the joint deficiency. As a
result, petitioner asserts, the petition did not confer
jurisdiction upon this Court and failed to suspend the
limitations period.15
14We note that petitioner’s position on this issue is also
unacceptable from a policy perspective for several reasons.
First, the petition in Martin I was pending in this Court for
more than a decade before petitioner moved to dismiss it, by
which time, according to his theory, the assessment period had
run. Disabling the assessment and collection of tax in that
fashion is clearly not what Congress intended. See O’Neill v.
United States, 44 F.3d 803, 806 (9th Cir. 1995). Second, a
strong presumption of authority is afforded to counsel when
filing a petition in this Court. See Rule 33; Gray v.
Commissioner, 73 T.C. 639, 646-647 (1980).
15We have already rejected this argument as it relates to
our jurisdiction in a prior proceeding involving petitioner and
respondent that arose out of Martin I. In Rothhammer v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2001-46, petitioner unsuccessfully
sought litigation costs under sec. 7430. Petitioner contended
that Mr. Berg’s failure to attach the notice, as required by Rule
34(b)(8), deprived this Court of jurisdiction. Petitioner cited
cases, as he does now, in which the taxpayers’ original petitions
failed to name certain taxpayers or include all tax years for
which the Commissioner made a determination. We found that, in
contrast to the petitions filed in those cases, the petition Mr.
Berg filed named petitioner and clearly contested petitioner’s
1980 income tax deficiency. Accordingly, in Rothhammer, we
rejected petitioner’s argument.
On brief, respondent discussed our decision in Rothhammer
(continued...)
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