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Petitioner’s opposition to respondent’s motion for summary
judgment and his posttrial briefs, however, raise the argument
that the assessment of his 1985 liabilities was invalid on
account of his then-pending bankruptcy, with the corresponding
implication that the statute of limitations on assessment has now
expired.
This Court has held that claims regarding whether
assessments were made within the limitations period constitute
challenges to the underlying tax liabilities. Hoffman v.
Commissioner, 119 T.C. 140, 145 (2002); Rodriguez v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2003-153; MacElvain v. Commissioner,
T.C. Memo. 2000-320. Respondent advances several arguments as to
why petitioner is not entitled to so challenge his underlying
1985 liabilities in this proceeding. Respondent’s principal
assertions in this regard are that petitioner is precluded from
raising the validity of the 1985 assessment here either by res
judicata or by the fact that petitioner failed to raise the issue
during the collection hearing process.
The U.S. Supreme Court in Commissioner v. Sunnen, 333 U.S.
591, 597 (1948), summarized the judicial doctrine of res
judicata, i.e., claim preclusion, in the following oft-quoted
pronouncement:
The general rule of res judicata applies to repetitious
suits involving the same cause of action. It rests
upon considerations of economy of judicial time and
public policy favoring the establishment of certainty
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