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Ex Parte Contacts
In the absentee letter, and in a statement submitted at
trial, petitioner contends that there were impermissible ex parte
contacts between respondent's Office of Appeals and Office of
Chief Counsel in connection with his hearing. The Appeals Office
records document that the Appeals employees handling petitioner's
hearing request communicated on numerous occasions with the Chief
Counsel attorney assigned to petitioner's case. The first
recorded contact occurred on July 24, 2002, and communications
between the two Offices continued throughout 2003 and 2004.
Section 1001(a) of the Internal Revenue Service
Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA 1998), Pub. L. 105-206,
112 Stat. 689, provides:
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall develop and
implement a plan to reorganize the Internal Revenue
Service. The plan shall * * *
* * * * * * *
(4) ensure an independent appeals function within the
Internal Revenue Service, including the prohibition in
the plan of ex parte communications between appeals
officers and other Internal Revenue Service employees
to the extent that such communications appear to
compromise the independence of the appeals officers.
In Rev. Proc. 2000-43, 2000-2 C.B. 404, respondent issued
guidance concerning ex parte communications by Appeals to comply
with the foregoing statutory directive. See generally Drake v.
Commissioner, 125 T.C. 201, 208-209 (2005). Rev. Proc. 2000-43,
supra, reaffirms that the Office of Chief Counsel is the legal
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