1 All section references are to the Internal Revenue Code in

effect for the years in issue. All Rule references are to the

Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.

T.C. Memo. 1997-42

UNITED STATES TAX COURT

JANICE A. PLEKAN, Petitioner v.

COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent

Docket No. 10706-95. Filed January 23, 1997.

Douglas Gilmore Miller, for petitioner.

Shirley M. Francis, for respondent.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GOLDBERG, Special Trial Judge: This case was heard pursuant

to the provisions of section 7443A(b)(3) and Rules 180, 181, and

182.1 This matter is before the Court on respondent's Motion to

Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction and petitioner's Cross Motion to
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Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction. Respondent moved for dismissal

on the grounds that the petition was not filed within the 90-day

period prescribed in section 6213(a). Petitioner moved for

dismissal on the grounds that the notices of deficiency are

invalid because they were not mailed to her last known address as

required under section 6212. Petitioner also filed a motion to

have the burden of proof shifted to respondent. A hearing was

held on these motions in Portland, Oregon. Petitioner's Motion

to Shift the Burden of Proof was denied at the hearing.

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are so found. 

The stipulation of facts and the exhibits received into evidence

are incorporated herein by this reference. Petitioner resided in

Portland, Oregon, at the time her petition was filed.

Petitioner filed a Federal income tax return for the taxable

year 1979. Petitioner was residing at 1865 N.W. 106th, Portland,

Oregon (her parents' address), at the time she filed her return

for 1979. This is the address which was shown as petitioner's

address on her 1979 return. Petitioner filed no return for 1980,

but filed a Federal income tax return for 1981. Petitioner was

issued a refund check for overpaid income taxes for taxable year

1981.

Petitioner did not file returns for any of the taxable years

1982 through 1988. Respondent prepared substitute-for-returns

for petitioner's taxable years 1983 and 1984, pursuant to section
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6020(b). Based upon information provided by third parties,

respondent determined that petitioner had taxable income in both

years. Accordingly, respondent determined deficiencies in

petitioner's 1983 and 1984 Federal income taxes in the respective

amounts of $1,777 and $1,442, and additions to tax for such

years. The notices of deficiency were computer generated at

respondent's service center in Ogden, Utah. Respondent mailed

notices of deficiency for taxable years 1983 and 1984 by

certified mail addressed to petitioner at 1865 N.W. 106th,

Portland, Oregon, on June 12, 1989. The notices of deficiency

were returned to respondent's Ogden Service Center with the

envelopes marked "Unclaimed".

It is not clear from the record when petitioner learned of

the asserted deficiencies. The envelope in which the petition

for redetermination was received by the Court was postmarked June

14, 1995, and the petition was filed with the Court on June 19,

1995.

Section 6212(a) authorizes the Secretary or his delegate,

upon determining that there is a deficiency in income tax, to

send a notice of deficiency "to the taxpayer by certified mail or

registered mail." A notice of deficiency is valid, regardless of

actual receipt by the taxpayer, if it is mailed to the taxpayer's

"last known address." King v. Commissioner, 857 F.2d 676, 679

(9th Cir. 1988), affg. 88 T.C. 1042 (1987). Neither section 6212
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nor the regulation promulgated thereunder defines what

constitutes a taxpayer's "last known address". Generally, a

taxpayer's last known address is the address shown on her most

recently filed and properly processed return, absent clear and

concise notice of a different address. Abeles v. Commissioner,

91 T.C. 1019, 1035 (1988); Alta Sierra Vista, Inc. v.

Commissioner, 62 T.C. 367, 374 (1974), affd. without published

opinion 538 F.2d 334 (9th Cir. 1976). The focus is on what the

Commissioner knew or should have known at the time the notice of

deficiency was mailed. 

Petitioner has the burden of proving that the notices of

deficiency were not sent to her last known address. Yusko v.

Commissioner, 89 T.C. 806, 808 (1987). Petitioner's most

recently filed Federal income tax return prior to the mailing of

the notices of deficiency was for taxable year 1981. Petitioner

asserts that the address shown on that return was 9335 S.W.

Downing, Portland, Oregon, and she contends that this was her

last known address at the time the notices of deficiency were

mailed. Petitioner has failed to convince us of this fact

through her testimony or otherwise.

Petitioner did not produce a copy of her Federal income tax

return for the taxable year 1981. Respondent destroyed

petitioner's original returns filed for 1979 and 1981 in

accordance with respondent's procedures. Petitioner does not
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remember what address was shown on her 1981 return. Petitioner,

therefore, tried to establish that she moved from 1865 N.W.

106th, Portland, Oregon, prior to filing her return for 1981, and

she contends that we should conclude that a new address was shown

on that return.

Petitioner's only evidence that the address shown on her

1981 income tax return was not her parents' address is her own

testimony. It is well established that we are not required to

accept self-serving testimony in the absence of corroborating

evidence. Geiger v. Commissioner, 440 F.2d 688, 689-690 (9th

Cir. 1971), affg. per curiam T.C. Memo. 1969-159; Niedringhaus v.

Commissioner, 99 T.C. 202, 219 (1992). Further, we find that

petitioner's credibility is undermined by numerous

inconsistencies in her testimony and by evidence submitted by

respondent.

Petitioner testified that she graduated from high school on

June 10, 1979, and that she moved out of her parents' house less

than 2 days later. Petitioner testified that her move was

motivated by extreme discord with her parents, that she had no

contact with them until sometime in 1986, and that she would not

have used their address as her own. However, petitioner

stipulated that she resided at her parents' address at the time

she filed her 1979 Federal income tax return which the record
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indicates was filed in 1980, after the time she claims she was

estranged from her parents.

Petitioner testified that she had a friend prepare her 1981

Federal income tax return for her. She testified that she was

certain that whoever filled out her return knew her address had

changed since 1979, although she was not certain who, in fact,

prepared her return.

Petitioner further testified that she was a full-time

student at Portland State University (Portland State) from 1982

through 1985, or, alternately, 1987, graduating with a degree in

marketing. Petitioner testified that she was living throughout

this period at 9335 S.W. Downing. Respondent introduced an

official copy of petitioner's transcript from Portland State as

impeachment evidence. Aside from disclosing that petitioner only

attended Portland State part-time for two quarters during 1984

and 1985, the transcript indicates that her address was 1865 N.W.

106th, although the reported dates of her attendance were some 5

years after she claims to have moved from that address. 

Petitioner could not provide a plausible explanation for these

discrepancies.

Petitioner has not submitted any credible evidence to

support her assertion that the address shown on her 1981 Federal

income tax return was not the same as that shown on her return

for 1979. In addition, the testimony of respondent's agent,
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Susan Hair (Ms. Hair), conflicts with petitioner's contention,

and we find Ms. Hair's testimony credible. Petitioner's address

was recorded in respondent's computer system based on the

information shown on petitioner's return for 1979. Respondent's

administrative file on petitioner indicates that an address

change for petitioner was received by respondent in 1991, but

that none was received prior to that time.

On this record, we find that respondent did not know nor

should she have known that petitioner's address had changed prior

to mailing the notices of deficiency.

Respondent mailed the notices of deficiency to petitioner's

last known address on June 12, 1989. The period of limitations

for 1983 and 1984 had not expired at the time of the mailing of

the notices of deficiency. Sec. 6501(b)(3). The petition herein

was mailed and filed over 6 years after the mailing of the

notices of deficiency. Thus, the petition was not filed timely. 

Sec. 6213(a).

To reflect the foregoing,

An order will be entered

granting respondent's Motion to

Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction

and denying petitioner's Cross

 Motion to Dismiss for Lack of

Jurisdiction.
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