Decision will be entered for respondent.
P, who made no returns of income tax for the years in issue, objects to R's proceeding with collection of unpaid tax solely on the ground that, for failure of R to mail to her a notice of tax deficiency (notice), he could not assess the unpaid tax and, therefore, could not by administrative means collect it from P.
HALPERN,
This is our second report in this case. Our first,
The only issue now before us, following trial, is whether respondent in fact mailed to petitioner a notice of deficiency before assessing tax for the contested years. We find that he did.
Other than the ultimate fact of whether respondent mailed to petitioner a notice of deficiency for the years in controversy, there are few facts to be found. Neither petitioner nor respondent called any witnesses, and petitioner offered no *183 testimony pertinent to the question of whether respondent mailed2016 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 178">*181 to her a notice of deficiency for the contested years. The parties have stipulated certain facts and the authenticity of certain documents. The facts stipulated are so found, and documents stipulated are accepted as authentic. When she filed the petition, petitioner resided in California.
On February 25, 2014, respondent sent to petitioner a Notice of Federal Tax Lien Filing and Your Right to a Hearing Under
The parties have stipulated copies of IRS Forms 4340, Certificate of Assessments, Payments, and Other Specified Matters, for the contested years. Those forms show assessments of tax for the contested2016 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 178">*183 years on April 29, 2013, "per default of 90 day letter [i.e., statutory notice of deficiency]".
The parties have also stipulated a copy of "the certified mail[] list relating to the Notice of Deficiency issued on November 16, 2012, for tax years 2005 through 2008." That document (certified mail list) is captioned "Certified Mail List". It shows the name and address of the sender: "Department of the Treasury, Internal *185 Revenue Service". It recites: "Statutory Notices of Deficiency for the Tax Year(s) Indicated Have Been Sent to the Following Taxpayers." Next to that entry is the stamped date "Nov. 16, 2012". It has four captioned columns: "Certified No.", "Taxpayer(s)", "Address", and "Tax Year(s)". The first row under those column headings is blacked out (we assume to hide the identity of another taxpayer). The second row shows a 20-digit number, petitioner's name, her address, and the tax years 2005 through 2008. Towards the bottom of the document is a row with the following entries: "Total No. of Pieces Listed by Sender: 8"; "Total No. Pieces Received at Post Office: 8"; "Postmaster and Date: * * * [there are handwritten initials and what appears to be a circular, stamped postmark:]2016 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 178">*184 Laguna Niguel CA, 92677 * * *, Nov 16, 2012." The letter "U" appears at the bottom of the circle, followed by three other letters that are indecipherable. At the bottom, it recites: "Internal Revenue Service--Official Use Only". To the left of that recitation are indecipherable initials.
By the amended petition, petitioner assigned the following errors to the determination: respondent did not provide petitioner with evidence that she owed tax; he deprived her of the opportunity to challenge her liability during her CDP hearing; he did not meet all the requirements for a CDP hearing; she did not *186 receive a fair or impartial hearing; she did not receive all requested documents or files. Respondent answered, denying that he erred as alleged.
The parties have filed briefs. At the conclusion of the trial in this case, petitioner conceded, and, on brief, she reiterates, that the only issue she wishes to argue is that respondent failed to mail to her a notice of deficiency for the contested years. Petitioner did not at trial testify or present other evidence that she did not receive the notice or that she did not receive the income attributed to her in the notice.2016 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 178">*185 The mailing issue aside, she does not argue that Ms. Levine abused her discretion in determining that the notice of tax lien should be sustained. Respondent asks that we deem petitioner to have waived all issues other than whether respondent mailed to her the notice.
Petitioner's principal argument is: "The 'CERTIFIED MAIL LIST' used by Respondent to certify the alleged certified mailing of the Notice of Deficiency for 2005 through 2008 * * * is not a certified mailing list authorized by the United States Postal Service (hereafter, 'USPS'), but a bootleg document that is fraught with errors and improper completion." She adds that respondent may use only a USPS form (in particular, a USPS Form 3877) to prove the certified mailing of a notice of deficiency.
Alternatively, she argues that, if, as a matter of law, a non-USPS form may provide satisfactory proof of mailing, the certified mail list does not provide satisfactory proof because (1) it lacks the2016 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 178">*186 signature of the person creating the form, (2) it lacks the signature of the Postal Service employee receiving the listed items, and (3) it shows as "8" both the number of pieces listed by sender and the number of pieces received at the post office, while the document itself at best shows only statutory notices sent to two taxpayers.
Petitioner also attaches to her brief a document purporting to show that the USPS could not find tracking number information for the tracking number shown on the certified mail list. At trial, we excluded the same document from evidence *188 on, among other grounds, the ground that petitioner had failed to follow our standing pretrial order and identify it in writing to respondent and provide to him a copy at least 14 days before trial, which prejudiced respondent. We will not consider that document here or petitioner's argument relying on it that the USPS's inability to find the tracking number on the certified mail list proves that respondent never mailed the notice. We note in passing that a "Help" article at the USPS.com Web site states that records for the Certified Mail service are stored in the tracking system for up to two years.
Respondent concedes, as he must, that, generally, a deficiency in tax may not be assessed and administrative means may not be undertaken to collect the deficiency until after a notice of deficiency is mailed to the taxpayer by certified or registered mail.
Respondent is correct that in this case no deficiency for any of the contested years could be assessed, or administrative means undertaken to collect the deficiency, until after a notice of deficiency was mailed to petitioner by certified or registered mail.
Normally, a taxpayer contesting2016 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 178">*188 the validity of a notice of deficiency on the ground that it was not mailed to the taxpayer within the period for the assessment and collection of any deficiency in tax (period of limitations) is in receipt of the notice and is claiming that the period of limitations expired before the date shown on the notice.
This is not the normal2016 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 178">*189 case. Petitioner, who is contesting whether respondent mailed to her a notice of deficiency, cannot make a prima facie case of untimely mailing by showing that a notice she received was mailed to her after expiration of the usual period of limitations because she is not claiming untimely mailing but, rather, no mailing at all.4 We shall, nonetheless, accept her implicit claim that she did not receive any notice of deficiency for the contested years as sufficient to shift the burden of going forward with the evidence to respondent.
Respondent has produced a file copy of a notice of deficiency dated November 16, 2012, determining deficiencies2016 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 178">*190 in petitioner's taxes for 2004 *191 through 2008. Petitioner has pointed out no irregularities in the file copy, and we assume, and find, that the file copy is a copy of a notice of deficiency for the contested years (notice) that was prepared by respondent for mailing to petitioner. That leaves, of course, the questions of whether and when the notice was mailed.
Respondent offers the certified mail list as evidence that he mailed the notice to petitioner by certified mail on November 16, 2012. We may quickly dispose of petitioner's argument that respondent may use only a USPS Form 3877 to prove the certified mailing of a notice of deficiency. As we said in
*192 Respondent2016 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 178">*191 has produced the certified mail list, which contains information indicating that a statutory notice of deficiency for the contested years was sent to petitioner by certified mail on November 16, 2012. The date November 16, 2012, is stamped at the top of the document, next to the statement that notices of deficiency have been mailed to the following taxpayers, and it appears on the circular postmark at the bottom of the document, next to the entry "Postmaster and Date" and initials. We have said: "[I]t is generally well known that a USPS hand-stamped postmark is round".
*193 With respect to petitioner's arguments, it is true that the certified mail list shows "8" as the number of pieces listed by sender and received at the post office, while it appears that only two pieces are listed on the document in front of us. It may be that the certified mail list is the last page of a multipage document, but we do not know. In any event, the page in front of us does contain the pertinent information concerning petitioner and does include the postmark. The failure of the certified mail list to identify the other six items and the fact that the document contains initials rather than signatures goes to the weight we accord the document. All things considered, on the basis of the notice, dated November 16, 2012, and the certified mail list showing the certified mailing of a notice of deficiency to petitioner on that same date, we conclude, and find, that, on November 16, 2012, respondent did mail the notice to petitioner. The Forms 4340 in evidence show the subsequent assessment of taxes and other amounts for the contested years on April 29, 2013, and we find that those amounts were so assessed.
There being nothing further to decide, we will enter decision for respondent.
Decision will be entered for respondent.
1. Unless otherwise stated, all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in effect at all relevant times, and all Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.↩
2. We also denied in part respondent's motion for summary judgment because, for 2005 through 2008, the motion presented genuine questions of material fact. We granted the motion (in part) with respect to 2004 because of petitioner's concession of liability for that year.↩
3. The notice of Federal tax lien shows the amount of the lien for each year as follows (rounded to the nearest dollar): 2004: $1,132; 2005: $6,930; 2006: 19,076; 2007: $16,006; 2008: $1,936. The liens result in part from petitioner's failure to make returns for any of those years and from respondent's making returns for her.↩
4. Moreover, because it appears from the file copy of the notice that petitioner filed no returns for any of the contested years, the periods of limitations for those years never began to run.