Cite as: 536 U. S. 238 (2002)
Souter, J., dissenting
III
Consider an alternative. I have noted already that even the Government tacitly acknowledges the crucial role of § 3121(q), the source of its authority to issue notice and demand, without which there is no liability on the employer's part for FICA taxes on unreported tips and thus no possibility of assessment under § 6201. It makes sense, then, to understand the scope of authority to make the assessment as being limited by the scope of the authority to issue notice and demand, and it likewise makes sense to pay close attention to the text of that authorization.
The special provision in § 3121(q) for notice and demand against an employer says nothing and suggests nothing about aggregate assessments. It reads that when an employer was furnished "no statement including such tips" or was given an "inaccurate or incomplete" one, the remuneration in the form of "such tips" shall be treated as if paid on the date notice and demand is made to the employer. "[S]uch tips" are described as "tips received by an employee in the course of his employment." Ibid. Thus, by its terms, the statute provides for notice and demand for the tax on the tips of "an employee," not on the tips of "employees" or "all employees" aggregated together. And, of course, if notice and demand is limited to taxes on tips of "an employee," that is the end of aggregate estimates.
It is true that under the Dictionary Act, 1 U. S. C. § 1, a statutory provision in the singular may include the plural where that would work in the context. "[A]n employee" could cover "employees" and the notice and demand could cover tips received during "their employment," "unless the context indicates otherwise," ibid. But here the context does indicate otherwise. The anomalies I have pointed out occur when the singular "employee" in § 3121(q) is read to include the plural, which in turn is crucial to allowing aggregate notice, demand, and assessment; and it turns out that
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