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having exhausted available administrative remedies. Sec.
301.7430-1(f) and (g), Examples (4) and (5), Proced. & Admin.
Regs.; see also Kaufman v. Egger, 758 F.2d 1, 3 (1st Cir. 1985);
Burke v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1997-127.
Petitioner failed to request an Appeals Office conference
before respondent’s issuance of the notice of deficiency, even
though the April 4, 2003, 30-day letter advised petitioner of her
right to file an administrative appeal. Indeed, petitioner did
not commence dealing with the Appeals Office until well after she
filed her Tax Court petition. Accordingly, we hold that
petitioner failed to exhaust her available administrative
remedies as required by section 7430(b)(1) and is ineligible for
an award of reasonable litigation costs under section
7430(a)(2).4 See Haas & Associates Accountancy Corp. v.
Commissioner, supra at 57-59; Roginiel v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 2002-270; Swanagan v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2000-294.
In light of this holding, for the purposes of deciding whether to
award petitioner reasonable litigation costs, we need not decide
whether the position of the United States in this proceeding was
substantially justified so that petitioner would not be treated
as the prevailing party.
4 Petitioner’s litigation costs are those incurred (1) in
connection with the preparation and filing of her Tax Court
petition and (2) after the filing of the petition. See sec.
301.7430-4(c)(3) and (4), Example (2), Proced. & Admin. Regs.
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