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and concise notification” of an address different from that
appearing on the taxpayer’s most recently filed and properly
processed Federal tax return is effective only if made after the
tax return is processed. The relevant question is not whether
the IRS received the change of address notification before or
after the last-filed return was processed. Rather, “what is of
significance is what respondent knew at the time the * * * notice
was issued * * *, and attributing to respondent information which
respondent knows, or should know, with respect to a taxpayer’s
last known address, through the use of its computer system.”
Abeles v. Commissioner, 91 T.C. 1019, 1035 (1988). If the IRS
has become aware of a change of address, it may not rely on the
address listed on the last-filed return but must exercise
“reasonable diligence in ascertaining the taxpayer’s correct
address”. Pyo v. Commissioner, 83 T.C. 626, 636 (1984); see
Buffano v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2007-32.
Upon receiving petitioner’s Form 2848 on November 4, 2002,
respondent should have known, with the exercise of reasonable
diligence, that the address shown on the Form 2848 superseded the
Idaho address shown on petitioner’s 1999 return, which respondent
had received 2 months earlier. As we stated in somewhat
analogous circumstances in Hunter v. Commissioner, supra,
“respondent bears the burden of conforming his actions to the
knowledge at his disposal.” Respondent failed to do so. We
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Last modified: November 10, 2007