- 14 - defenses of the statute of limitations because, in the first case, we deemed petitioners to have conceded that defense by not addressing it in their objection to respondent’s motion for summary judgment and, in the second case, the claim did not deal with the year at issue in the case. In docket No. 3405-05L, we rejected a similar claim with respect to 1996 because we deemed petitioners likewise to have conceded the claim. We did, however, deny in part respondent’s motion for summary judgment in docket No. 3405-05L because of petitioners’ statute of limitations claim for 1997. Petitioners claimed that respondent had backdated the assessment of tax for that year, and as a result, collection of the tax was time barred. Petitioners supported their claim of backdating by an argument concerning the “cycle post date” of the assessment. Since that argument was unclear, but we were concerned that it might involve a material issue of fact, we declined to adjudicate summarily petitioners’ statute of limitations claim for 1997. In each of the orders we issued in response to the motions for summary judgment, we warned petitioners and counsel that we were considering the imposition of penalties on petitioners pursuant to section 6673(a)(1) and excess costs on counsel pursuant to section 6673(a)(2). In those orders, we stated our impressions that petitioners, aided by counsel, may have (1) instituted and maintained the proceeding before this CourtPage: Previous 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 NextLast modified: November 10, 2007