Gray v. Commissioner

73 T.C. 639, 1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 207
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJanuary 7, 1980
DocketDocket No. 6483-79
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 73 T.C. 639 (Gray v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gray v. Commissioner, 73 T.C. 639, 1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 207 (tax 1980).

Opinion

OPINION

Scott, Judge:

On May 18, 1979, petitioner filed a petition in the above-entitled case in which she alleged that her legal residence was 1349 Princeton Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah 84105. To this petition was attached a copy of a notice of deficiency dated April 13, 1979, addressed to petitioner at 329 South 12th East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102. The petition was filed in the name of Dean Gray and Shirley Gray and was executed as follows:

PRINCE, YEATES & GELDZAHLER
By Frederick S. Prince, Jr.
By J. Gordon Hansen
By John M. Bradley
Attorneys for petitioners

Messrs. Prince, Hansen, and Bradley are attorneys admitted to practice before this Court.

On July 20, 1979, respondent filed a motion to dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction, alleging with respect to petitioner Shirley Gray that an attorney in his office had received oral information from one of the attorneys signing the petition that the firm did not represent petitioner Shirley Gray. On this basis, respondent alleged that the petition herein was not filed by the taxpayer to whom the notice of deficiency was sent and that no showing had been made that the persons filing the petition were legally entitled to institute a proceeding on behalf of the taxpayer to whom the notice was sent.1

On August 27,1979, petitioner Shirley Gray filed a motion to dismiss this case on the ground that respondent failed to send an adequate notice of deficiency to petitioner Shirley Gray at her last known address and, alternatively, objected to respondent’s motion to dismiss the petition as to Shirley Gray. Attached to petitioner’s motion were several affidavits and exhibits. Respondent, on October 1,1979, filed a notice of objection to petitioner’s motion to dismiss the above-entitled case, to which he attached several affidavits and exhibits. Argument on respondent’s motion to dismiss and petitioner’s motion to dismiss was held in Ogden, Utah, on October 1,1979.

At the oral argument, it was agreed by counsel for the parties that the Court could accept the facts set forth in the affidavits and exhibits attached to petitioner’s motion and to respondent’s objection thereto as proved in this case. Therefore, the issues presented to the Court are whether the petition in this case was properly filed on behalf of petitioner Shirley Gray, and whether the notice of deficiency was mailed to petitioner at her last known address.

The facts here show that on April 12,1979, respondent mailed by certified mail to petitioner a statutory notice of deficiency for the taxable year 1975 addressed to her at 1349 Princeton Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah 84105. This notice of deficiency was not returned to respondent. On April 13, 1979, respondent mailed to petitioner by certified mail a duplicate statutory notice of deficiency for the taxable year 1975 addressed to her at 329 South 12th East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102. This notice of deficiency was not returned to respondent. Both notices were mailed with a return receipt requested. Respondent’s file contains the return receipt for the notice mailed to petitioner on April 13,1979, but not the return receipt for the notice mailed on April 12,1979.

Some time prior to March 22, 1979, a revenue agent in respondent’s Salt Lake City, Utah, office had been assigned the audit of a partnership, CFC-75, doing business as the Vineyard Apartments. Dean Gray is one of the partners in that partnership. On March 22, 1979, the audit of the CFC-75, Vineyard Apartments, partnership had not been completed, and respondent’s agent sought to obtain an extension of the statute of limitations on assessment of tax for the calendar year 1975 from Dean and Shirley Gray. Department of Treasury Form 872, “Consent Fixing Period of Limitation Upon Assessment of Tax,” addressed “Dean W. and Shirely R. Gray, 1571 East Tomahawk Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84103,” was signed by Dean Gray on March 22,1979, on the line designated “Your signature here.” In the space designated for “Spouse’s signature” on the consent form, the following appeared: “Divorced — she lives out of state.” The consent form (872) was received in the Office of the District Director, Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 23, 1979, and, on that date, duly executed on behalf of respondent. At the time the revenue agent solicited the consent extending the statute of limitations for the year 1975 from Dean Gray, he was unaware that Dean Gray and petitioner were divorced. On April 13,1979, the audit of the CFC-75, Vineyard Apartments, partnership had not been completed.

On November 10,1977, petitioner filed in the District Court of Salt Lake County, Utah, a complaint against Dean W. Gray seeking a divorce. On April 11, 1978, the District Court of the Third Judicial District for Salt Lake County, State of Utah, entered a decree of divorce, granting petitioner a divorce from Dean W. Gray. Paragraph 15 of this decree provided:

15. All liabilities on joint income tax returns are ordered to be borne by defendant [Dean W. Gray], who will indemnify and hold the plaintiff [Shirley R. Gray] harmless from any claims or expenses arising out of such returns. Any refunds due on such returns shall belong to the defendant.
So long as permitted by statute, the plaintiff and defendant are ordered for the year 1977 and prior years to file joint declarations of estimated tax and joint income tax returns. * * *

On or before April 15, 1976, Dean W. Gray and petitioner mailed a joint Federal income tax return for the year ending December 31, 1975, to the Internal Revenue Service Center in Ogden, Utah. This return listed 1349 Princeton Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah 84105, as the address of Dean and Shirley Gray. In December 1976, Dean and Shirley Gray moved from 1349 Princeton Avenue to 1571 East Tomahawk Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. On or about April 15, 1977, Dean and Shirley Gray filed a joint Federal income tax return for the calendar year 1976 with the Internal Revenue Sevice Center in Ogden, Utah. On their 1976 Federal tax return, they listed 1571 East Tomahawk Drive as their address. In November 1977, Dean Gray moved to 329 South 12th East, Salt Lake City, Utah, and has resided there since that date. Petitioner never resided at 329 South 12th East, Salt Lake City, Utah. She continued to reside at 1571 East Tomahawk Drive until October 1978.

From October 1978 to the time of the hearing in this case, petitioner resided at 44.26 Holly Lane, N.W., Gig Harbor, Wash. In January 1979, Shirley Gray mailed an individual quarterly estimated income tax return, together with a check, to the Internal Revenue Service Center in Ogden, Utah. Both the check and the estimated tax return listed 4426 Holly Lane, N.W., Gig Harbor, Wash. 98235, as petitioner’s address. On May 28, 1979, petitioner received a notice of correction of arithmetic from the Internal Revenue Service Center, Ogden, Utah, addressed to her at 4426 Holly Lane, N.W., Gig Harbor, Wash. Petitioner has never executed a waiver of a statute of limitations for the assessment of Federal income tax with respect to the year ending December 31,1975.

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Gray v. Commissioner
73 T.C. 639 (U.S. Tax Court, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
73 T.C. 639, 1980 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gray-v-commissioner-tax-1980.