Opinion
14268-21
10-19-2021
Diana M. Walsh & John K. Storlie Petitioners v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Respondent
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE
Maurice B. Foley, Chief Judge
On April 28, 2021, the Court received from petitioners a letter, attached to which was a copy of a notice of deficiency dated April 14, 2021, issued to petitioners with respect to the 2017 taxable year. To protect petitioners' statutory time period within which to begin a case, the Court filed that letter as a petition to commence this proceeding at Docket No. 14268-21.
Petitioners submitted an additional letter on August 16, 2021, and further review of the record at this juncture suggests the possibility of a fundamental jurisdictional defect, calling into question the validity of the purported notice of deficiency dated April 14, 2021. In particular, the petition explained, and attached documentation supporting, that the deficiency had been paid in October of 2020. If the amount of an alleged deficiency has been paid prior to issuance of a statutory notice pertaining thereto, the determined amount fails to qualify as a deficiency within the meaning of the governing provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.
The premises considered, it is
ORDERED that, on or before November 10, 2021, respondent shall show cause in writing why this case should not be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, on the ground that no valid notice of deficiency, as authorized by section 6212 and required by section 6213(a) of the Internal Revenue Code to form the basis for a petition to this Court, has been issued to petitioners with respect to taxable year 2017.