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unnecessary to decide whether the Commissioner’s request for a
copy of the taxpayer’s return was a “writing with respect to [a]
deficiency or payment” within the meaning of section 6404(e)).
However, we need not decide this issue now because even if we
were to find that the August 16, 1999, notice of delinquency did
constitute such a written contact, we would still find that the
delay in petitioners’ payment was attributable to their error in
making payment and not to an error or delay by the IRS.
The IRS did err by mailing a notice of delinquency to Mrs.
Grandelli under an incorrect name and to an incorrect address.
However, we find that the cause of petitioners’ delay in paying
their 1997 income tax liability was their failure to timely file
their amended 1996 income tax return and their 1997 income tax
return. Petitioners knew that the IRS did not receive the three
1996 income tax returns they mailed in 1997. When the IRS
notified them in 1998 that it had not received any of their
income tax returns for 1996, petitioners should have realized
that there was a problem with their method of filing income tax
returns and taken steps to correct this problem or at least
established a policy of verifying that the IRS received their
subsequent returns.
While it is the IRS’s policy to notify taxpayers when they
have not timely filed returns, the IRS has no statutory
obligation to do so. See 2 Administration, Internal Revenue
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Last modified: March 27, 2008