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Robinette v. Commissioner, 123 T.C. 85, 93 (2004); Washington I,
120 T.C. at 128 (Halpern, J., concurring). Where a challenge to
the existence or amount of a taxpayer’s underlying liability is
properly before the Court, “we should decide that challenge in
the same manner as we would redetermine a deficiency pursuant to
section 6214.” Washington I, supra at 129 (Halpern, J.,
concurring). Accordingly, when a taxpayer challenges the amount
of the underlying liability pursuant to section 6330(c)(2)(B),
our review of the underlying tax liability may lead to the
conclusion that the underlying tax liability should be lowered,
and such a finding presents the possibility of the existence of
an overpayment, as is the case herein.
Particularly as section 6330 cases involve a prepayment
posture and an opportunity to contest collection of the amount of
tax owed, and the tax must be paid in full as a prerequisite to
commencement of a refund suit brought in U.S. District Court or
the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, lack of jurisdiction to decide
an overpayment in section 6330 cases would leave taxpayers in a
“Catch-22” where their tax was overpaid but the period of
limitations on claiming the refund may have run, the look-back
rules of section 6511(b) may limit or eliminate the amount of the
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