Carter B. Tatum, Jr. and Barbara B. Tatum - Page 9

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          duties.”).  At trial, both petitioners credibly testified that they         
          did not receive a notice of attempted delivery from the USPS and            
          that they did not know that the USPS was attempting to deliver a            
          certified letter to them.                                                   
               An individual’s claim that he/she did not receive notice of            
          attempted delivery of a certified letter may lack credibility when          
          the USPS makes more than one attempt to deliver the certified               
          letter and leaves separate notices of each attempt at the address           
          on the envelope.  Under those circumstances, it may be unlikely             
          that the individual did not receive at least one of the notices;            
          instead, it may be apparent that the individual chose to ignore the         
          notices.  In such event, the individual’s conduct constitutes               
          deliberate refusal of delivery and repudiation of the opportunity           
          to contest the notices of deficiency in this Court.                         
               In the case herein, petitioners failed to claim the notice of          
          deficiency because they did not receive the USPS’s notice of                
          attempted delivery of a certified letter. Petitioners did not               
          deliberately avoid delivery of the certified letter.  They did not          
          receive the notice of deficiency, and the avoidance exception to            
          actual receipt is not applicable in this case.                              
               To conclude, we find that, under section 6330(c)(2)(B),                
          petitioners should have been allowed to challenge their underlying          
          tax liabilities for 1990 and 1991 at the hearing.  In cases where           
          the taxpayer did not receive a notice of deficiency for a                   






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