Id. Given that Congress had expressly delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury the authority to regulate in this area, 26 U.S.C. § 7502(b), the court deems it appropriate to defer under Chevron, USA, Inc. v. Natural Resouces Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842-43 (1984) to the agency's reasonable interpretations of § 7502. See McBrady v. United States, 167 F. Supp. 3d 1012, 1017 (D. Minn. 2016). Although there is a circuit split on the question of whether the common law mailbox rule applies to tax filings, the decisions of the Third, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits to the contrary, all predated the above quoted Treasury regulations, and thus, their precedential value may be called into question.
Thus, the Ninth Circuit concluded that I.R.C. § 7502 and Treas. Reg. § 301.7502-1(e)(2)(i) had eliminated the common-law mailbox rule with respect to proof of timely filing of federal tax claims. Accord McBrady v. United States , 167 F.Supp.3d 1012, 1017 (D. Minn. 2016) ("The Court perceives no reason why it should not defer, under Chevron ... to these regulations as reasonable interpretations of § 7502, especially because Congress expressly delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury the authority to regulate in this area."). The parties do not cite any other cases that have addressed the validity of Treas. Reg. § 301.7502-1(e)(2)(i) and its impact on I.R.C. § 7502.