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hearing the matter.” The court does not mention the statutory
exception for an Appeals officer’s involvement in other section
6320 or 6330 proceedings concerning a taxpayer. Mesa Oil, Inc.
v. United States, 86 AFTR at 2000-7316 to 7317, 2001-1 USTC par.
50,130 at 87,100 to 87,101, can be read to imply that even
reviewing the IRS administrative file before contacting the
taxpayer for a hearing might constitute disqualifying prior
involvement. Yet any such prohibition would seem to infringe
upon realities of the administrative process and possibly even
other requirements of the statute itself; e.g., those pertaining
to verification.
Against this backdrop, the Court cannot conclude that the
situation now before us represents the type of harm that the
restriction on prior involvement was intended to prevent. Two
potential rationales, both drawn from the language of the statute
and regulations, lead to this result. First, as a technical
matter, the subsequent years have never been the subject of;
i.e., been directly in dispute in, a proceeding before the IRS.
To the extent that there has never technically been a proceeding
concerning the later years, a fortiori there cannot have been
disqualifying involvement in a proceeding by IRS personnel. The
regulatory definition in particular, phrased in terms of an
earlier “Appeals hearing * * * with respect to the tax and tax
periods”, suggests that prior involvement contemplates a
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