Respondent's motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction granted as supplemented.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
DAWSON, Judge: This case was assigned to Special Trial Judge Robert N. Armen, Jr., pursuant to the provisions of section 7443A(b)(5) and Rules 180, 181, and 183. 1 The Court agrees with and adopts the opinion of the Special Trial Judge, which is set forth below.
OPINION OF THE SPECIAL TRIAL JUDGE
ARMEN, Special Trial Judge: This matter is before the Court on respondent's motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, as supplemented. Respondent contends that the Court lacks jurisdiction2002 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 176">*177 on the ground that the petition was not timely filed pursuant to
Background
On July 6, 2001, respondent issued a joint notice of deficiency to petitioners. In the notice, respondent determined a deficiency in petitioners' Federal income tax for 1998 in the amount of $ 96,086 and an addition to tax under
On October 10, 2001, the Court received and filed a joint petition for redetermination in which petitioners challenged respondent's deficiency determinations. 2 The petition is dated October 5, 2001. The petition arrived at the Court in an envelope bearing U. S. Postal Service certified mail No. 7001 0360 0001 7533 5423 and two postmarks. One of the postmarks is a private postmeter postmark showing Bellflower, California, 2002 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 176">*178 as the postal locale, and the other is a U. S. Postal Service postmark showing Long Beach, California, as the postal locale. Both postmarks are dated October 5, 2001.
As indicated, respondent filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction on the ground that the petition was not timely filed. Petitioners filed an objection to respondent's motion to dismiss, alleging that they initially mailed a petition to the Court on September 15, 2001, and, after they received no response from the Court, they mailed a second petition to the Court on October 4, 2001. 3 Petitioners' objection suggests that2002 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 176">*179 the delivery of their first petition may have been impeded because of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
Respondent filed a response to petitioners' objection, asserting that petitioners failed to demonstrate that the delivery of the petition purportedly mailed to the Court on September 15, 2001, was impeded because of the events of September 11, 2001. 4 Respondent also argued that the U. S. Postal Service postmark date of October 5, 2001, appearing on the envelope in which the petition was2002 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 176">*180 delivered to the Court, conclusively establishes that the petition was not mailed within the statutory 90-day filing period. See sec. 301.7502-1(c)(1)(iii)(A), Proced. & Admin. Regs. (regarding U. S. Postal Service postmarks); see also sec. 301.7502-1(c)(1)( iii)(B), Proced. & Admin. Regs. (regarding private postmeter postmarks).
The Court subsequently issued an Order directing petitioners to provide the Court with any documentation they might have showing that they mailed a petition to the Court on September 15, 2001, and, if available, a copy of U. S. Postal Service Form 3800, Certified Mail Receipt, for certified mail item No. 7001 0360 0001 7533 5423. Petitioners did not respond to this Order.
This matter was called for hearing at the Court's motions session held in Washington, D. C., on March 27, 2002. Counsel for respondent2002 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 176">*181 appeared at the hearing and offered argument in support of respondent's motion to dismiss. There was no appearance by or on behalf of petitioners at the hearing, nor did petitioners file any statement pursuant to Rule 50(c), the applicability of which was brought to their attention by the Court in its Order calendaring respondent's motion for hearing.
Following the hearing, the Court directed respondent to file a supplement to his motion to dismiss addressing the question whether
This matter was called for further hearing at the Court's motions session held in Washington, D. C., on May 8, 2002. Counsel for respondent appeared at the hearing and offered argument in support of the motion to dismiss, as supplemented. In particular, counsel argued that petitioners are not entitled to relief under
Discussion
The Tax Court is a court of limited jurisdiction. The Court's jurisdiction to redetermine a deficiency depends on the issuance of a valid notice of deficiency and a timely filed petition.
Petitioners did not challenge the validity of the notice of deficiency. We observe that the notice was mailed to petitioners at two separate addresses and that a copy of the notice was sent to petitioners' authorized representative. Accordingly, it appears that the notice was mailed to petitioners at their last known address. See
The record in this case demonstrates2002 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 176">*184 that the petition was not filed within the 90-day period prescribed in
The only remaining question is whether petitioners are entitled to relief because of the events of September 11, 2001.
determined by the Secretary to be affected by a Presidentially
declared disaster (as defined by section 1033(h)(3)), the
Secretary may prescribe regulations under which a period of up
to 120 days may be disregarded in determining, under the
internal revenue laws, in respect of any tax liability
(including any penalty, additional amount, or addition to the
tax) of such taxpayer --
(1) whether any of the acts described in paragraph (1) of
therefor * * *. 5
2002 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 176">*186
(e) Notice of postponement of certain acts. If any
tax-related deadline is postponed under
section, the IRS will publish a revenue ruling, revenue
procedure, notice, announcement, news release, or other guidance
published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin * * * describing the
acts postponed, the number of days disregarded with respect to
each act, the time period to which the postponement applies, and
the location of the covered disaster area. Guidance under this
paragraph (e) will be published as soon as practicable after the
declaration of a Presidentially declared disaster.
Following the events of September 11, 2001, the Commissioner promptly issued a series of Notices announcing the relief available to taxpayers affected by the terrorist attacks.
In
In
The Internal Revenue Service has determined that the due date
for all federal tax obligations falling between September 10,
2001, and September 24, 2001, is postponed to September 24,
2001. This postponement of time covers the filing of returns and
claims for refund, the payment of tax (including estimated tax
payments), making elections, and filing any other Federal tax
documents. The postponement does not apply to deposits of
federal taxes. * * * [Emphasis added.]
Finally, in
C. ADDITIONAL GRANT OF RELIEF
* * * * *
(2) Under2002 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 176">*191 paragraph (4) of the Grant of Relief section of
postponement of time to perform the acts described in
to perform the act fell within the period beginning on September
11, 2001, and ending on November 30, 2001. One of these acts is
the filing of any Tax Court petition. Under this notice, the
relief provided by paragraph 4 is expanded as follows. If the
last date for filing any Tax Court petition would otherwise be
on or after December 1, 2001, and on or before December 31,
2001, the last date for filing the petition is postponed by 60
days under
In short,
Based upon our review of
Consistent with the preceding discussion, we shall grant respondent's motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, as supplemented.
To reflect the foregoing,
An order will be entered granting respondent's motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction as supplemented.
1. Unless otherwise indicated, all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code, as amended, and all Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.↩
2. The body of the petition, which is essentially a letter to the Tax Court, reads as follows:
Tax Court;
This letter represents a formal request for petition forms
needed to file with the court.
See attached "Notice Of Deficiency" letter dated July 6, 2001,
giving us the 90 days to file the petition forms.
Please send forms to: Juan El Khouri [address]↩
3. In response to petitioners' allegation regarding the mailing of a petition on Sept. 15, 2001, the Court searched its records but was unable to find any indication of either a petition filed by petitioners before Oct. 10, 2001, or any correspondence received from them before that date.
We note that petitioners' allegation regarding the mailing of the petition on Oct. 4, 2001, is inconsistent not only with the postmark dates on the envelope containing the petition but also with the date on the petition itself.↩
4. We note that mail service to the Court was seriously disrupted by the anthrax attacks in Washington, D. C., last fall, but that such attacks did not occur until mid-October 2001.↩
5.
6.