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sections given the statutory requirement of an Appeals Office
hearing, and we often have relied on the administrative record in
reviewing Appeals Office determinations. Moreover, in
appropriate circumstances, we might restrict ourselves to the
administrative record--for instance, where the taxpayer has
failed to cooperate in presenting relevant evidence at the
Appeals Office hearing. In the instant case, petitioner
attempted to introduce relevant evidence at the Appeals Office
hearing, but the Appeals officer refused to consider that
evidence and failed to include it in the administrative record.
In these circumstances, I agree with the majority opinion that we
are not limited to evidence in the administrative record.
Section 6330(c)(2) provides that a taxpayer may raise at the
Appeals Office hearing “any relevant issue relating to the unpaid
tax or the proposed levy”. Section 6330(c)(3) requires that the
determination by an Appeals officer shall take into consideration
the relevant issues raised by the taxpayer in the Appeals Office
hearing. In this case, Judge Vasquez, as the trial Judge, has
found that issues relating to whether petitioner defaulted on the
offer-in-compromise are relevant issues that petitioner raised in
the Appeals Office hearing and which should have been considered
by the Appeals officer in his determination, but were not. I
defer to Judge Vasquez, as the trial Judge, in identifying the
issues raised at the Appeals Office hearing and whether those
issues are relevant. I also defer to his conclusions that the
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