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The copies of the incompletely executed Form 1040X,
purporting to amend Astrid Downing’s single 1995 return and claim
joint filing status for petitioner and Astrid Downing, show
$8,728 as “Amount of tax paid with original return plus
additional tax paid after it was filed”. Respondent’s records
show that this amount was posted to Astrid Downing’s 1995 account
as a “PAYMENT WITH RETURN”.11 Petitioner relies upon this entry
as establishing that the 1995 return was filed and processed by
the IRS. We disagree. At most, this entry might suggest that a
joint return was tendered with payment and that an IRS employee
accepted the payment. Such action by an IRS employee, however,
would not waive the statutory requirements for a valid return.
See Lucas v. Pilliod Lumber Co., 281 U.S. 245 (1930); Olpin v.
Commissioner, supra at 1301; Smart v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo.
1987-279; Wallace v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1975-133.
Petitioner places great weight on the preliminary
assessments of Appeals Officer Dugan, who first handled
petitioner’s Appeals hearing. In an undated internal memo and in
a letter to petitioner’s representative Appeals Officer Dugan
stated that she believed, on the basis of her preliminary
investigation, that petitioner and Astrid Downing had filed a
11 In the final notice of determination, the Appeals Office
concluded that petitioner should be given credit for the $8,728
payment.
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Last modified: November 10, 2007