An appropriate order will be issued.
COLVIN,
Petitioner resided in Pennsylvania when he filed the petition.
Petitioner filed a Form 211, Application for Award for Original Information, dated July 28, 2009, with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The Form 211 was sent for2016 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 90">*91 processing to the IRS Whistleblower Office in St. Cloud, Minnesota (Whistleblower Office). Steven J. Mitzel, a management analyst with the Whistleblower Office, signed and dated the final determination letter in this case on May 6, 2015. Mr. Mitzel's standard practice is to deliver final determination letters to the unposted mail at the collection bin at the group secretary's desk and then to record the action in the IRS e-trak Claim Action Listing, which Mr. Mizel did at 8:13 a.m. on May 6 with respect to the *93 determination letter at issue here. The standard practice of the Whistleblower Office is that the secretary applies postage to all mail in the unposted mail bin and delivers the outgoing mail to a U.S. Postal Service mailbox at 3 p.m. every business day. USPS customarily collects the mail from the outgoing mail box at 3:15 p.m. each business day. The secretary was working on May 6, 2015. According to his declaration, at 10:26 a.m. on May 6, Mr. Mitzel called petitioner's attorney, Mr. Berk, and told him the final determination letter had been mailed. Mr. Mitzel's declaration states that he documented the phone call by making an e-trak entry; however, there is no e-trak entry2016 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 90">*92 referring to that call. Petitioner filed the petition in this case on June 8, 2015, 33 days after May 6.
The issue for decision is whether the petition filed on June 8, 2015, 33 days after respondent asserts that the final determination letter was mailed, was timely filed within 30 days of the mailing of the IRS' final determination letter. If the petition was timely filed, we have jurisdiction with respect to the final determination. If not, the case must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
The Tax Court may exercise jurisdiction only to the extent expressly provided by Congress.
To prevail, respondent must show through direct evidence that the Whistleblower Office mailed the final determination letter more than 30 days before petitioner filed the petition on June 8, 2015. We cannot find that compliance with standard * * * [operating procedures] within the Whistleblower Office, standing alone, permits a finding that the denial letters in question were mailed to petitioner[.] * * * [T]he Commissioner must prove by direct evidence the date and fact of mailing or personal delivery of the notice to the whistleblower. * * *
Respondent relies on records2016 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 90">*94 that Mr. Mitzel created (e-trak entries and a declaration attached to the motion) which show that, assuming the Whistleblower Office's standard business practices were followed here, the final determination letter was mailed on May 6, 2015. Respondent has not produced a certified mailing receipt or any other direct evidence showing that the final determination letter was mailed on May 6, 2015 (or any other date). Thus, respondent relies on the standard operating procedures within the Whistleblower Office to establish the mailing date at issue here. We rejected that approach in
*96 Respondent contends that the circumstances of the mailing of the final determination letter in this case are distinguishable from those in
The exhibits attached to respondent's motion and the Mitzel declaration provide only evidence of the Whistleblower Office's standard business practices concerning the mailing of final determination letters. This evidence does not satisfy the standard established by
To reflect the foregoing,
1. Unless otherwise indicated, section references are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect at all relevant times, and Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure. We round monetary amounts to the nearest dollar.↩