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database field), rather than become the object of contemplation
by a IRS clerk charged with finding the right place to put a
particular piece of correspondence. This is especially important
when a taxpayer’s relation to the IRS reaches the point of
enforced collection through levy. Section 6330(e) requires the
Commissioner--once he receives a request for a CDP hearing--to
stop trying to levy, to start tolling the period of limitations
for collection and any criminal prosecution, as well as to toll
the period for a taxpayer to file a refund or wrongful levy suit
under section 6532.
The IRS keeps track of taxpayers by tax year, and it
organizes its attempts at collection by tax year. When a
taxpayer gets a NFTL or NIL for a particular tax year, the
proposed collection action is noted in the file for that tax year
alone. And the IRS is lenient about what counts as a CDP request
that comes in during the 30-day window starting after it mails
out an NIL: It allows a “written request in any form.” Sec.
301.6330-1(c)(2), A-C1(i), Proced. & Admin. Regs. The eye of the
IRS, to paraphrase the psalmist, is only at that moment open
“upon those who fear him, upon those that hope in his mercy.” Or
at least upon those asking for a CDP hearing.
But this lenience about the form of a request, combined with
severity about when the request can be received, also reflects
the human limits of the IRS in processing as efficiently as
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Last modified: May 25, 2011