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was made. Petitioners argue that because the issue of the NOLs
was not in dispute when they made the qualified offer, the
qualified offer was exclusive of the amounts related to the NOLs.
Consequently, petitioners contend that they are entitled to
reduce the agreed-upon amounts for the 1989, 1991, and 1992 tax
years by applying NOLs from the 1988, 1990, 1993, and 1995 tax
years.
III. Analysis
The parties agree that petitioners’ offer, as stated in
their January 31, 2003, letter, was a qualified offer within the
meaning of section 7430(g). In now seeking to reduce the agreed-
upon settlement amounts for the 1989, 1991, and 1992 tax years by
the NOL amounts, petitioners are in effect asking us to treat the
settlement amounts as though they resulted from a court decision
in which various issues were resolved, but where entry of
decision awaited the availability, if any, of various NOLs. See,
e.g., Gen. Signal Corp. & Subs. v. Commissioner, 104 T.C. 248
(1995). We must therefore decide whether an agreement reached by
way of the qualified offer provision may be dealt with in the
manner petitioners request, and thus should be treated
differently from the way this Court treats settlement agreements
reached outside the parameters of the qualified offer provision.
Section 7430 provides for the award under certain
circumstances of administrative and litigation costs to a
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