CDP notice of determination valid if actually received.

• Author: Beavers, James A.
• Position: Collection due process

The Tax Court held that a notice of determination from a collection due process (CDP) hearing, like a deficiency notice, is valid for purposes of starting the period in which a taxpayer must file a petition with the Tax Court if the notice is actually received by the taxpayer.

Background

Isaiah Bongam owed civil penalties under Sec. 6672 for fading to collect or pay withholding taxes for various calendar quarters from 2005 through 2009. The IRS assessed a liability of $772,282, on April 9, 2009, and issued Bongam a Notice of Federal Tax Lien Filing and Your Right to a Hearing (NFTL) on Oct. 1, 2013. The IRS sent the NFTL by certified mail to Bongam at an address in Bowie, Md., which was his last known address as shown in IRS records at all relevant times.

Bongam timely filed Form 12153, Request for a Collection Due Process or Equivalent Hearing, which showed his address as an address in Washington, D.C. However, he never filed a change-of-address form with the IRS or indicated to the IRS that he wished to have his last known address changed to the Washington address. Bongam testified at trial that he generally used the Maryland address for his tax filings.

After the CDP hearing, the settlement officer determined that Bongam was not entitled to relief. On April 30, 2014, the IRS sent him a Notice of Determination Concerning Collection Action(s) denying relief to his Washington address by certified mail. On May 3, 2014, the U.S. Postal Service attempted to deliver the letter to Bongam's Washington address but was unable to do so, and on June 6, 2014, it returned the letter as undeliverable to the IRS.

On Aug. 4, 2014, the IRS remailed the April 30, 2014, Notice of Determination, including the envelope in which it had originally been posted, to Bongam at his Maryland address by regular mail. Bongam received the Notice of Determination a few days later and, on Aug. 22, 2014, mailed the Tax Court a petition seeking review of the notice. This petition was filed within 30 days of the date on which he actually received the notice and of the date on which the IRS remailed the notice. In Tax Court, the IRS moved to dismiss the case, arguing the court lacked jurisdiction because the notice originally sent to Bongam was invalid because it was not mailed to his "last known address" and thus could not serve as a basis for the court's jurisdiction.

The Tax Court's Decision

The Tax Court held that the remailed notice was valid and it had jurisdiction over...