Return filed without IP PIN starts running of limitation period.

• Position: Identity protection personal identification number

A taxpayer's e-filing of a return without his IP PIN triggered the running of the Sec. 6501(a) statute-of-limitation period on assessment.

Background

Robin Fowler e-filed a 2013 Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, on Oct. 15, 2014 (Oct. 15 submission). He electronically signed (e-signed) a Form 8879, IRS e-file Signature Authorization, which authorized the return's preparer, a public accounting firm, to file a return on his behalf. A partner in the accounting firm e-signed the 2013 Form 1040 with a practitioner personal identification number (practitioner PIN) and transmitted it directly to the TRS on Oct. 15,2014. The IRS received the return but rejected it. It sent the partner a rejection notice that listed code "IND-181," indicating a failure to provide a valid identity protection personal identification number (IP PIN) with an e-filed return was the reason for the rejection. The IRS's records showed that it had sent Fowler an IP PIN on Dec. 30, 2013, but Fowler claimed he had not received it at the time of the Oct. 15 submission.

The accounting firm then prepared a paper return for Fowler with the same information as the original e-filed return. Fowler signed the return using DocuSign. On Oct. 28, 2014, the accounting firm mailed the paper return to the IRS using certified mail with return receipt. Although Fowler's return receipt proved that the IRS had received the paper return, it sent Fowler a letter in December 2014 stating that it had not received the return.

The accounting firm e-filed another 2013 Form 1040 on April 30, 2015. The third return was identical to the first two returns, except that it included an IP PIN Fowler had obtained from the IRS sometime prior to the filing. The IRS accepted the return for processing.

The IRS later audited Fowler's 2013 return and issued a notice of deficiency for the 2013 tax year to him on April 5, 2018. Fowler filed a petition in Tax Court challenging the notice of deficiency.

In Tax Court, Fowler argued that the Oct. 15 submission of the return triggered the running of the Sec. 6501(a) statute-of-limitation period for assessment for his 2013 return. Therefore, the limitation period for that year had expired when the IRS issued the notice of deficiency over three years after that date on April 5, 2018. The IRS countered that Fowler's first two returns were not valid returns because they did not include the IP PIN, and, consequently, the limitation period did not begin running...