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Secretary to issue the notice concerning his hearing under
section 6330 or to conduct it, and accordingly his hearing was
null and void for want of notice from, or its conduct by, the
Secretary himself. For the purposes presented here, the
Secretary has delegated the authority to issue a final notice of
intent to levy to certain IRS employees. See Delegation Order
191 (Rev. 3), effective June 11, 2001, Internal Revenue Manual,
sec. 1.2.2.5.3; see also Craig v. Commissioner, 119 T.C. 252, 263
(2002). The statute itself provides that the hearing is to be
conducted by an officer or employee of the IRS Office of Appeals,
not the Secretary. Sec. 6330(b)(1), (3).
Having considered all of petitioner’s arguments and found
them meritless, we conclude that the Appeals officer’s failure to
permit petitioner to make an audio or other recording of his
hearing was harmless error. Similarly, since petitioner has
raised only meritless arguments with respect to the underlying
tax liabilities, the Appeals officer’s refusal to consider
arguments concerning the underlying tax liabilities was also
harmless error. In these circumstances, we do not believe it is
“either necessary or productive” to remand this case for a
recorded hearing where an Appeals officer might consider
petitioner’s meritless arguments concerning his underlying tax
liabilities. See Lunsford v. Commissioner, 117 T.C. at 183, 189;
see also Keene v. Commissioner, 121 T.C. at 19-20; Kemper v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2003-195. As petitioner has not raised
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