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describes the period for assessing tax with respect to any
partnership item or affected item. The parenthetical in
subsection (a) refers specifically to affected items. Therefore,
it would have been redundant to include a similar parenthetical
in subsection (b)(3) because the reference to “partnership items”
in that subsection was intended to refer only to the language
required in the Form 872. The pertinent limitations period is as
described in subsection (a).
C. Respondent’s Argument Implies That Section 6229 Applies
Only If There Is an Adjustment at the Partnership Level
Although respondent does not specifically make this
argument, implicit in his reading of the statute is that there
must be a partnership level adjustment in order for section 6229
to apply. In this case, we do not have an adjustment because the
partnership return was accepted as filed. Therefore, following
this logic, it would not be necessary to include reference to
partnership or affected items in the Forms 872. We analyze this
problem by reference to the statute.
Section 6229(b)(3) provides that any agreement under section
6501(c)(4) shall apply with respect to the period described in
subsection (a) only if the agreement expressly applies to “tax
attributable to partnership items.” As stated supra in section
B, the phrase “tax attributable to partnership items” describes
what must be in the agreement under section 6501(c)(4). The
period extended is “the period described in subsection (a)”,
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