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the Letter 1058 to Mrs. Grandelli. Therefore, to establish that
they are entitled to relief, petitioners must prove that an
officer or employee of the IRS made some error or delay after the
date of this first contact. Sec. 6404(e)(1); Nerad v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1999-376. However, the errors and
delays that petitioners claim caused their delay in payment
occurred before this date. Respondent argues that the notice of
delinquency mailed to Mrs. Grandelli on August 16, 1999, did not
constitute written contact with respect to either a deficiency or
a payment within the meaning of section 6404(e)(1) because it was
intended to inform petitioners that they had not filed a return
for 1997, not to inform them that there was a deficiency or a
payment owed for 1997.
Second, even if we were to find that the notice of
delinquency did constitute the type of written contact required
by section 6404(e)(1), respondent argues that petitioners’ delay
in paying their 1997 tax liability would not be attributable to
any unreasonable error or delay by any employee or officer of the
IRS.
We have not directly addressed the issue of whether a notice
of delinquency, which generally only notifies the taxpayers that
they have not filed a return for a specific year, constitutes a
written contact “with respect to [a] deficiency or payment.” See
Weiss v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1999-364 (finding it
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Last modified: March 27, 2008