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homelessness--even if she had cared to forward his mail, it is
likely that she was in touch with him only very rarely.
Lovenguth plausibly claims not to have received any further
communications from the Commissioner until May 2000, when the
Commissioner sent him a letter reminding him of the balance due
and telling him that collection might entail seizing his wages
and property, though the Commissioner seems never to have sent
him a collection due process notice. Lovenguth reacted by
selling the bonds he had bought with his lump-sum disability
payment, and sending almost $18,000 (interest having compounded
for over a decade) to the IRS to pay his entire tax liability--
simply to “stop the bleeding” as he put it. He then filed a
claim for refund and request for abatement of interest--the
interest having become the overwhelming majority of the amount he
paid. The Commissioner denied them. Lovenguth then timely filed
a request for review of that determination in this Court pursuant
to section 6404(e).2
Lovenguth, who was acting pro se, was apparently unclear
about his relationship with Commissioner’s counsel. A comment
made during a conference call led him to believe that the IRS
counsel was there to help, rather than represent the
2 Unless otherwise noted, all section references are to the
Internal Revenue Code; all Rule references are to the Tax Court
Rules of Practice and Procedure.
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Last modified: November 10, 2007