In the case of Garalnik v. Petitioner, 145 TC No. 15 the question was a simple one at this point—had Felix managed to file his petition with the Tax Court to challenge the IRS’s Notice of Determination Concerning Collection Actions in a timely manner.  While this issue involved a court filing, the same basic rules govern timely filing in other contexts.

The issue involves the “timely mailing” rule of IRC §7502 and/or the simple timely delivery requirement for his petition under IRC §6330(d)(1).  In the end, Felix did not meet the requirements of the timely mailing but, due to a storm that rendered actual delivery impossible on the actual due date, the Court allowed the filing was timely under Tax Court Rule 25(a).  

The Tax Court decided that a taxpayer who had voluntarily filed an amended return in response to an IRS examination of her claim of a refundable first time homebuyer credit had not had a previous chance to challenge the tax due in the case of Canaday v. Commissioner, TC Summary Opinion 2015-57.

The issue goes back to the return Ms. Canaday filed for 2008 on April 15, 2009 in which she claimed a first time homebuyer credit.  In 2011 the IRS opened an audit of her return in 2011 and in May of that year she filed an amended return on which she no longer claimed the refundable credit.  On the basis of the return the IRS issued a notice and demand for additional tax.  In 2013 the taxpayer filed a request for audit reconsideration, now apparently believing she really should have qualified for the credit.  The IRS denied that request.

A CPA’s inability to prove that he had timely mailed an appeal to the IRS regarding the issue of whether this taxpayer was truly liable for a trust fund recovery penalty proved a major problem for the taxpayer in the case of Smith v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2015-60.

In late October of 2010 the IRS sent Letter 1153, Trust Funds Recovery Penalty Letter, to Mr. Smith proposing to assess the penalty against him for unpaid employment taxes of a partnership in which he had been a partner.  Mr. Smith faxed the letter to his CPA who was with a firm with 5 partners and over 40 staff members.