Harris v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Docket No. 8215.

• Decision Date: 10 January 1927
• Docket Number: Docket No. 8215.
• Citation: 5 BTA 1026
• Parties: E. L. HARRIS, PETITIONER, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT.
• Court: U.S. Board of Tax Appeals

5 B.T.A. 1026 (1927)

E. L. HARRIS, PETITIONER, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT.

Docket No. 8215.

Board of Tax Appeals.

Promulgated January 10, 1927.

E. L. Harris pro se.

B. H. Saunders, Esq., for the respondent.

This proceeding came on for hearing on the Commissioner's motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction upon the ground that a deficiency has not been determined.

FINDINGS OF FACT.

The petitioner is an individual residing in Seminole County, Oklahoma, and doing business in the town of Wewoka. On March 15, 1924, he filed with the collector of internal revenue for the district of Oklahoma his income-tax return for 1923, showing a tax of $108.81. Subsequently, and in the same year, his books were examined by a Mr. Spralls, a revenue agent, working as a member of a group called "the oil squad." Spralls prepared an amended return showing additional tax due in the amount of $6,227.77, and presented it to the petitioner for his signature. The petitioner consented to all of the adjustments shown on the form prepared by Spralls, except one which increased by the amount of $35,000 the profit previously reported from the sale of certain oil and gas leases. Spralls refused to recede from his position, and the petitioner signed the form as requested, believing that there was no alternative and that it was necesary to sign in order to save himself from a heavy penalty on that portion of the tax admitted by him to be due. He was under the impression that the only effect of his signing the form prepared by Spralls would be the transfer of his case to the office of the Commissioner in Washington.

On August 28, 1925, a registered letter reading in part as follows was mailed to the petitioner:

IT:PA:2-60-D RO'L:203 AUGUST 28, 1925. Mr. E. L. HARRIS Wewoka, Oklahoma.

SIR: The determination of your income tax liability for the taxable year 1923, as set forth in office letter dated February 10, 1925, disclosed a deficiency in tax amounting to $6,227.77.

In accordance with the provisions of Section 274 of the Revenue Act of 1924, you are allowed 60 days from the date of mailing of this letter within which to file an appeal to the United States Board of Tax Appeals contesting in whole or in part the correctness of this determination.

Where a taxpayer has been given an opportunity to appeal to the United States Board of Tax Appeals and has not done so within the 60 days prescribed and an assessment has been made, or where a taxpayer has appealed and an assessment in accordance with the final decision on such appeal has been made, no claim in abatement in respect of any part of the deficiency...