An appropriate order and decision will be entered.
GERBER,
In August 2006 respondent selected the 2004 return of petitioner and her husband Jack Carpentier for examination. The Carpentiers attended an initial meeting with the examining agent. The rapport between the Carpentiers and the agent quickly deteriorated.
In the months following the initial meeting, the agent made continual requests for additional information, and by October2014 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 75">*76 2006 the Carpentiers were dissatisfied with the agent's approach and skeptical of his intentions. They requested that a different agent be assigned to the examination of their 2004 return, but no response from respondent was forthcoming. During November 2006 the Carpentiers continued to receive additional requests for information from the agent. In November 2006 Mr. Carpentier was hospitalized, and because of his *77 critical condition they requested additional time to provide the information; however, their request was denied.
The Carpentiers then contacted the Taxpayer Advocate Service office. After that they did not hear from the agent, and again they requested and were denied a reassignment of their examination to another agent. At this point the Carpentiers requested that the agent close the examination and allow them to proceed to Appeals, but the agent refused. The delay continued for about one year, and on December 22, 2007, Mr. Carpentier had a stroke and died in the hospital.
Petitioner made additional requests for a new examiner in early 2008, which were also denied. After that petitioner hired tax professionals to address any issues remaining on the 2004 return and to prepare2014 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 75">*77 an amended 2004 return. The agent advised petitioner that any amended return had to be processed through him. Because of the deteriorated relationship with the agent and because he had originally rejected petitioner's attempt to file an amended return, petitioner filed the amended return with the Fresno, California, Internal Revenue Service Center, where her original 2004 return had been filed. The Fresno Service Center sent the amended return to the agent.
*78 During December 2009 respondent issued to petitioner a notice of deficiency for 2004. Petitioner filed a petition with this Court at docket No. 4374-09S. Respondent determined a $26,824 income tax deficiency and an accuracy-related penalty of $5,365. Petitioner paid the income tax deficiency but contested the accuracy-related penalty. Early in 2010 petitioner met with an Appeals officer. A settlement of the remaining issue was reached, and the Court entered the parties' stipulated decision on February 26, 2010.
Thereafter petitioner requested that respondent abate the interest on the 2004 income tax deficiency. Respondent denied her request, and petitioner asked respondent's Appeals Office to review the denial. Appeals sustained2014 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 75">*78 the denial.
In June 2012 petitioner filed a petition challenging respondent's determination. Respondent on the eve of trial conceded that petitioner is entitled to an abatement of interest on the 2004 deficiency. On July 1, 2013, the remaining issues raised in the petition were decided.
Early in September 2013 Caroline Chen of the Santa Clara University School of Law Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic began representing petitioner in her pursuit of costs and fees under
If certain requirements are met,
Petitioner seeks to recover administrative and litigation costs and fees relating to the 2004 deficiency proceedings as well as other such costs and fees relating to the instant interest abatement proceeding. We address each in turn.
Petitioner contends that under
In this
*84 We recognize that petitioner's inability to raise an interest abatement claim in her 2004 deficiency proceedings resulted in her inability to be the prevailing party in those proceedings and to recover costs and fees for respondent's delay. Under existing law, however, a taxpayer is left with no remedy or ability to recover costs caused by the delay or actions of the Commissioner's employees during the period giving rise to the abatement of interest claim. That result, as highlighted by the circumstances of this case, is unfortunate and ironic, but something that can be remedied only by Congress.
We now turn to the costs and fees incurred in this proceeding. Those costs and fees include: (1) $4,125 of costs for the services of the professionals at Jenkins Income Tax Services, (2) a $60 Tax Court filing fee, and (3) $6,010 of attorney's fees for the2014 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 75">*85 pro bono services of Ms. Chen in this proceeding.7
*85 Respondent concedes that petitioner is the prevailing party in this proceeding,82014 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 75">*86 that she did not unreasonably protract the proceedings, and that she exhausted all administrative remedies. Respondent also concedes that petitioner may recover the $60 filing fee for the petition in this case. Respondent, however, argues that there should not be any award for the costs and fees related to the services of Jenkins and Ms. Chen.
First, respondent argues that petitioner is precluded from recovering any of the costs and fees she seeks because she failed to submit the declarations or affidavits required under
Second, respondent argues that petitioner has not shown that the costs and fees she seeks to recover are reasonable. We agree in part. The record does not establish that certain costs of Jenkins relate to this proceeding and fails to establish that others are reasonable. For instance, a Jenkins invoice indicates that a *86 conference call among petitioner, a Jenkins professional, and Ms. Chen lasted six hours. However, Ms. Chen reported that the same conference call lasted three hours. Petitioner does not explain the disparity. Another instance involves a Jenkins cost claimed for a conference with the Appeals Office that purportedly took place a few2014 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 75">*87 weeks before trial. The record does not reflect that petitioner's case was with Appeals during that time, nor does it reflect the nature of the purported Appeals conference. Despite peculiarities with certain Jenkins costs, we find that the record reflects that petitioner incurred reasonable Jenkins costs of $2,450.
As for Ms. Chen's fees, the record reflects that a portion of the fees was attributable to insufficient filings or was excessive in amount given the nature of the corresponding services. On the basis of our review of the record, we find that only $2,000 of the claimed fees for Ms. Chen's services was reasonable.
In reaching our holdings herein, we have considered all arguments made, and, to the extent not mentioned above, we conclude they are moot, irrelevant, or without merit.
*87 To reflect the foregoing,
*. This opinion supplements our prior opinion, Carpentier v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2013-160.↩
1. Unless otherwise indicated, Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure, and all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect at all relevant times. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.↩
2. Petitioner originally filed a motion for costs and fees on April 19, 2013, which the Court denied without prejudice because it was premature.↩
3. Petitioner asserted in her supplement that Ms. Chen is entitled to the award.
4. In considering whether the Commissioner abused his discretion in denying an interest abatement claim we may review the facts that transpired during and before the deficiency proceeding for the same taxable period.
5. That is because the amount of any income tax liability and any interest thereon is unknown and cannot be assessed until the deficiency proceeding is concluded.↩
6. We also note that under
7. The Court may award reasonable attorney's fees for pro bono legal services to the attorney or the attorney's employer, even though a taxpayer does not "incur" those fees.
8. In his response to petitioner's motion for administrative and litigation costs, respondent conceded that petitioner was the "prevailing party" and as a consequence,