- 74 -
only purpose in agreeing to an OIC. The preamble to section
301.7122-1, Proced. & Admin. Regs., explicitly refers to the
IRS’s interest in promoting the voluntary compliance of
taxpayers. T.D. 9007, 2002-2 C.B. 349, 350. Indeed, not only is
this one of the policy underpinnings of the regulations; it can
even be the basis by itself for accepting an OIC. The timely
filing requirement is particularly important to the IRS as a
monitoring device with respect to OICs, like the one here, which
include future income level triggers that can result in
additional payment obligations. See majority op. p. 4 n.3.
B. Opportunities To Cure
It is also important to emphasize how deliberate the IRS was
before declaring the OIC in default. Respondent did not default
petitioner’s OIC as soon as he realized the 1998 return had not
been timely filed. Following the guidance of 2 Administration,
Internal Revenue Manual (CCH) (IRM), sec. 5.19.7.3.22.5, at
18,513, respondent first contacted petitioner to request the
missing return and did so at least two more times thereafter.
See majority op. p. 8. Those efforts by respondent were in
keeping with the mandate of the IRM that in the event of
potential default efforts “will be made to secure compliance”.
IRM sec. 5.8.9.4, at 16,382. Despite those efforts, petitioner
did not provide the missing return until approximately 1 year
Page: Previous 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011