If You Can’t Prove You Mailed It

Thus Judge Travis A. (“Tag”) Greaves admonishes three I(count ’em, three) IRS attorneys, who can allege only a NAMES transcript provided the last known address of Mark F. Coble, T. C. Sum. Op. 2024-16, filed 8/12/24. Except that address is in Seattle, WA, and Mark says he lived in Santa Fe, NM.

Alas, “…respondent did not include a copy of the NAMES transcript. The CEAS transcript lists petitioner’s address as the [Santa Fe] address.” T. C. Sum. Op. 2024-16, at p. 2.

Judge Tag Greaves judge-‘splains. “The IRS CEAS system is a web-based application. See Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) 4.10.15.1 (Sept. 21, 2018). IRS employees use the CEAS system to assist in examining individual returns, among other purposes.” T. C. Sum. Op. 2024-16, at p.4, footnote 5.

NAMES is a command code in the Integrated Data Retrieval System, which ties into the Name Search Facility, which is updated daily; unhappily, the NSF lists multiple addresses, and this time IRS guessed wrong.

However, mox nix.

“Respondent has failed to carry his burden of establishing that the notice of deficiency was properly mailed. Respondent has not presented any testimony regarding the mailing procedures used with respect to this notice of deficiency—such as through submitting an affidavit. Respondent must therefore establish proper mailing through presenting documentary evidence. To that point, respondent has not produced Form 3877 and cannot rely on the presumption of official regularity to establish proper mailing. As a result, respondent must present sufficient other evidence to establish proper mailing. To meet this threshold, respondent merely directs the Court to the tracking number stamped at the top of the notice of deficiency and an entry on the CEAS transcript. This type of documentary evidence falls short of what we have accepted in the past to show proper mailing in situations where the Commissioner does not present a Form 3877.” T. C. Sum. Op. 2024-16, at p. 6. (Citations omitted, but get them for your memo of law file.)

I’m sure Mark’s trusty attorney from NM Legal Aid’s LITC, whom I’ll call GA, has the citations; and now, as the petition is tossed for want of a valid SNOD and  3SOL has run on the year at issue, she also has a Taishoff “Good Job.”