Martin David Hoyle v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Summary

The Tax Court reviewed a notice of determination upholding a federal tax lien against petitioner's unpaid 1993 tax liability and held that it will examine the Appeals officer's section 6330(c)(1) verification — here, whether a duly mailed notice of deficiency preceded the assessment — regardless of whether the taxpayer raised the issue at the Appeals hearing, distinguishing Giamelli, which governed only section 6330(c)(2) issues. Because the record did not show what the Appeals officer relied on to verify that a notice of deficiency was properly mailed, and because an assessment made without such a notice is invalid and supports no lien, the Court declined to review the underlying liability de novo and instead remanded to the Appeals Office to clarify the record.