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than 5 years, plus up to 1 year to account for changes in the
agreement (such as payment skips, interest rate changes, etc.).
I.R.M. sec. 5.14.2.1(6) (effective Mar. 30, 2002).11
Petitioners initially requested an installment agreement
that would require them to pay $750 per month, having submitted a
Form 433-A that indicated they had $888 excess monthly income
after taking into account monthly living expenses. After the
Appeals officer rejected this proposal, petitioners counter-
offered, first proposing to pay $1,000 per month and then
proposing to pay $1,200 per month. The Notice of Determination
addresses--and rejects--petitioners’ proposals to pay $750 per
month and $1,000 per month but does not expressly address
petitioners’ proposal to pay $1,200 per month.12
11 Current Internal Revenue Service policy is to extend the
collection statute expiration date only in conjunction with
partial payment installment agreements and only in certain
situations. I.R.M. sec. 5.14.2.1 (effective July 12, 2005).
12 As previously noted, the Notice of Determination refers
to an apparently last-in-time proposal by petitioners to pay
$1,300 to $1,400 per month. The Notice of Determination
indicates that the $1,300 to $1,400 per month offer was rejected
because petitioners had failed to show that they were currently
making adequate withholdings. At the same time, however, the
Notice of Determination acknowledges that “the Appeals Officer
had not required that the withholding be increased” and concludes
that an installment agreement would be granted only in the amount
of $2,700 per month. Such reasoning strikes us as a nonsequitur:
It is not apparent why petitioners’ failure to increase their tax
withholding should doom their offer when that had not been made a
precondition for an installment agreement, or indeed why it
should be a precondition for petitioners’ offer but not for the
Appeals Office’s counteroffer.
(continued...)
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