Tax Court In Brief | Hallmark V. Comm'r | No Equitable Tolling Of 90-Day Deadline To Petition Notice Of Deficiency

• Published date: 06 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Tax, Tax Authorities
• Law Firm: Freeman Law
• Author: Freeman Law

Tax Litigation: The Week of November 28th, 2022, through December 2nd, 2022

• Lipka v. Comm'r, T.C. Memo. 2022-116 | December 1, 2022 | Gustafson, J. |Docket No 11455-20L
• Reynolds v. Comm'r, T.C. Memo 2022-115 | November 30, 2022 |Wells, J. |Docket No 14433-16
• Showalter, v Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2022-114 | November 30, 2022 |Lauber, J.| Dkt. No. 13116-18
• Heather P. Dunn and Edison Dunn v. Comm'r |T.C. Memo 2022-112 | November 29, 2022 | Wells, J. | Dkt. No. , No. 9996-17

Hallmark Research Collective v. Comm'r, 159 T.C. No. 6 | November 29, 2022 | Gustafson | Dkt. No. 21284-21

Summary: In this 57-page opinion, the Tax Court addresses the question of whether the Tax Court has jurisdiction to adjudicate a taxpayer's petition challenging a notice of deficiency ("NOD") when the petition was filed one day beyond the 90-day deadline contained in the NOD.

No, it doesn't.

The rest of the Hallmark story is summarized below. . . .

Pursuant to section 6212, the IRS sent a statutory notice of deficiency ("NOD") to Hallmark's last known address, by certified mail, on June 3, 2021. The NOD determined deficiencies, additions to tax, and penalties against Hallmark for the years 2015 and 2016 and advised Hallmark of the following (bold/underlined added here):

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If you disagree with the Notice of Deficiency

If you want to contest our final determination, you have 90 days from the date of this letter (150 days if addressed to you outside of the United States) to file a petition with the United States Tax Court.

. . .

Time limits on filing a petition

The court can't consider your case if you file the petition late.

• A petition is considered timely filed if the Tax Court receives it within: 90 days from the date this letter was mailed to you, or 150 days from the date this letter was mailed to you if this letter is addressed to you outside of the United States.
• A petition is also generally considered timely if the United States Postal Service postmark date is within the 90 or 150-day period and the envelope containing the petition is properly addressed with the correct postage. The postmark rule doesn't apply if mailed from a foreign country. . . . .
• The time you have to file a petition with the Tax Court is set by law and can't be extended or suspended, even for reasonable cause. We can't change the allowable time for filing a petition with the Tax Court. . . . .

If we don't hear from you

If you . . . don't file a timely...