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assessment-recording process. To hold to the contrary would be
absurd. Imagine a clerical error at the IRS that causes an
assessment of $1 million against a taxpayer who has a Tax Court
decision saying that he owes $1,000. Not allowing him to point
that out in a CDP hearing would be tantamount to saying that IRS
clerical errors trump our decisions. We won’t do so.
But in this case, we can assuage Industrial’s concern. As
later explained by Talbott’s manager, and confirmed by our own
review, the IRS’s records accurately accounted for the reduced
deficiencies that Industrial won through negotiations. As is
customary at the IRS, these reductions were noted as abatements
of the original assessments, together with corresponding
abatements of the interest and penalties to reflect the
settlement.
5. Reasonable Litigation Costs
Industrial also asks for an award of reasonable litigation
costs under section 7430. However, section 7430(a) allows us to
award costs only to a “prevailing party,” and Rule 231(a)(2)(A)
provides that a taxpayer may file a motion seeking costs within
thirty days after service of the opinion determining the issues
in the case. We are remanding this case, not deciding the case
on the merits and in Industrial’s favor. Its request is
therefore premature. See Drake v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2006-
151.
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Last modified: November 10, 2007