David A. Lehmann - Page 14

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          to audio record section 6330 hearings.  The taxpayer in that case           
          had refused to proceed when denied the opportunity to record, and           
          we remanded the case to allow a recorded Appeals hearing.  Id.              
               In contrast, we have distinguished, and declined to remand,            
          cases where the taxpayer had participated in an Appeals Office              
          hearing, albeit unrecorded, and where all issues raised by the              
          taxpayer could be properly decided from the existing record.                
          E.g., id. at 19-20; Frey v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2004-87;               
          Durrenberger v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2004-44; Brashear v.               
          Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2003-196; Kemper v. Commissioner, T.C.             
          Memo. 2003-195.  Stated otherwise, cases will not be remanded to            
          Appeals, nor determinations otherwise invalidated, merely on                
          account of the lack of a recording when to do so is not necessary           
          and would not be productive.  See, e.g., Frey v. Commissioner,              
          supra; Durrenberger v. Commissioner, supra; Brashear v.                     
          Commissioner, supra; Kemper v. Commissioner, supra; see also                
          Lunsford v. Commissioner, 117 T.C. 183, 189 (2001).  A principal            
          scenario falling short of the necessary or productive standard              
          exists where the taxpayers rely on frivolous or groundless                  
          arguments consistently rejected by this and other courts.  See,             
          e.g., Frey v. Commissioner, supra; Brashear v. Commissioner,                
          supra; Kemper v. Commissioner, supra.                                       
               Because no hearing had been conducted at all in petitioner’s           
          case and the record contained certain factual ambiguities, we               






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