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thereby improperly influenced, in violation of petitioner's right
to an impartial Appeals employee under section 6330(b)(3) and
section 301.6330-1(d)(1), Proced. & Admin. Regs. Settlement
Officer Waters addressed this issue in the 2004 supplemental
determination, observing that petitioner himself had a witness at
the conference and insisted that it be audio recorded.
Petitioner has not disputed this assertion. The 2004
supplemental determination further observes that it is Appeals'
practice to have a second employee present when conferences are
audio recorded.
For purposes of section 6330(b)(3), an Appeals employee is
considered to be "impartial" if he or she had "no prior
involvement with respect to the unpaid tax" at issue. The 2004
supplemental determination states that the settlement officer
making it had no prior involvement with the liabilities at issue,
and petitioner has offered no evidence that either Settlement
Officer Waters, or the second Appeals employee participating in
the December 2003 conference, had any prior involvement.
Moreover, nothing in the record of this case suggests that any
Appeals employee involved in petitioner's hearing was
demonstrably biased. See Cox v. Commissioner, 126 T.C. No. 13
(2006); Criner v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2003-328.
Accordingly, petitioner has shown no failure to comply with
section 6330(b)(3).
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