Robert L. Stewart - Page 9

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          against his 1990 tax liability.5  We disagree with petitioner               
          that he is entitled to his requested interest abatement.                    
               Section 6404(e) requires not only the identification of an             
          error or delay caused by a ministerial act on the Commissioner’s            
          part, but the identification of a specific period of time over              
          which interest should be abated as a result of the error or                 
          delay.  See, e.g., Krugman v. Commissioner, 112 T.C. 230 (1999);            
          Douponce v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1999-398.  In his interest             
          abatement claim, petitioner failed to show a correlation between            
          the errors he alleged and any specific period of time.  Instead,            
          he requested the abatement of “any and all” interest accrued on             
          his 1990 income tax deficiency.6                                            
               Respondent has the authority to abate interest accrued as a            
          result of a ministerial error or delay by his employees only if             


               5 In reaching a decision under the abuse of discretion                 
          standard, the Court focuses on arguments and information                    
          available to respondent at the time his discretion was exercised.           
          Sego v. Commissioner, 114 T.C. 604, 612 (2000); Donovan v                   
          Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2000-220.  Because petitioner did not              
          present his fifth argument in the interest abatement claim, we do           
          not address that argument.                                                  
               6 In this regard, we understand petitioner also to be                  
          asserting that he is liable for none of the interest because it             
          relates to an addition to tax that respondent assessed after the            
          applicable period of limitations under sec. 6501.  As we have               
          found, the addition to tax was assessed initially on Nov. 18,               
          1991 (approximately 1 month after petitioner filed his related              
          return), abated on Aug. 14, 1995, and then reassessed on Oct. 25,           
          1999.  Petitioner’s assertion, which focuses on the applicability           
          of the addition to tax, is not an appropriate consideration in              
          this interest abatement proceeding.                                         




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