Esther Ruth Ferris - Page 5

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          collection activity respondent relies on is the offset by                   
          respondent of petitioner’s overpayment of tax for the year 1999             
          in the amount of $2,141, which was applied to petitioner’s 1997             
          taxes, the year for which petitioner is claiming relief under               
          section 6015.  The offset by respondent of a tax overpayment of             
          another year toward payment of a tax liability for a year to                
          which section 6015 relief is sought has been held to be a                   
          collection activity for purposes of section 6015.  Campbell v.              
          Commissioner, 121 T.C. 290, 292 (2003); Hall v. Commissioner,               
          T.C. Memo. 2004-170.  In this case, on March 22, 2001, respondent           
          applied or offset $2,141 of an overpayment of petitioner’s 1999             
          tax toward payment of her unpaid 1997 tax.  Petitioner’s Form               
          8857 for relief from joint liability was filed on October 17,               
          2003, which is more than 2 years from the date of the offset.               
          That offset, as noted above, constituted a collection activity.             
          There is nothing in the record showing that petitioner was ever             
          advised or notified by respondent of the offset.  It is fair to             
          conclude that no notice of the offset was issued to petitioner              
          because respondent argues in a trial memorandum that notice of              
          the offset was not necessary under Rev. Proc. 2000-15, 2000-1               
          C.B. 447.  This Court held to the contrary in McGee v.                      
          Commissioner, 123 T.C. 314, 317 (2004):                                     

               We have not previously been faced with the Commissioner’s              
               reliance on the 2-year limitation period when the                      
               Commissioner took an inconsistent position in failing to               





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