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(5) On July 13, 1992, after petitioner had become a
Louisiana resident, he entered into an installment payment
agreement with respondent’s office in Shreveport, Louisiana.
In an “Appeals Case Memorandum”, which formed the basis for
his subsequent determination letter to petitioner, Appeals
Officer Mazaroli set forth his findings regarding petitioner’s
claim that the extensions he signed were invalid:
My Finding: My contact with the IRS Collection
Division did not uncover any evidence in support of (or
against) the taxpayer’s allegation that the extension
of the * * * [statute of limitations on collection] is
invalid. Since the taxpayer raised the issue and the
only evidence presented was a copy of the completed and
signed Form 900, which matches the one sent to Appeals
by California Collections, there is insufficient
evidence upon which to find that the extension is
invalid. The taxpayer contends that the Form 900 was
signed by him in blank and later completed by the
Revenue Officer. As evidence of this, he provided a
copy of a completed Form 900 that has the Revenue
Officer’s signature dated after the taxpayer’s
signature date. I do not find this to be sufficient
evidence to overcome the correctness of the Form 900.
In my experience with the IRS, I find it to be a common
practice for an IRS employee to solicit an agreement
from a taxpayer, and not sign the agreement form until
it is reviewed by the employee and discussed with a
manager.
Since it is the practice of the IRS to solicit an
extension or other agreement prior to review and
approval and prior to IRS signature, the presumption is
that the Form 900 was completed and then signed by the
taxpayer and the Form 900 subsequently reviewed and
signed by the Revenue Officer (The Tax Court has found
that the presumption of official regularity justifies
the conclusion that the Service carried out it [sic]
procedures in the appropriate manner unless there is
convincing evidence that shows otherwise. Sego v.
Commissioner, 114 T.C. No. 37 (June 30, 2000)).
Therefore I do not find that the taxpayer’s evidence is
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