Internal Revenue Service

Department of the Treasury

Date: 02-14-2014

Number of this Letter: 1153

Person to Contact: L. Heat

IRS Contract Address:
INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
9350 E FLAIR DR., 4TH FLOOR
EL MONTE, CA 91731

JOHN TAXPAYER
123 MAIN STREET
LOS ANGELES, CA 90030

IRS Telephone Number:
(626) 312-5046, Ext. 123

For each period you are protesting, if the
proposed penalty amount is:

You should:

$25,000 or less

Send a letter listing the issues
you disagree with and explain
why you disagree. (Small
Case Request)

More than $25,000

Submit a formal Written Protest

                                                            2

Letter 1153(DO) (Rev. 3-2002)
Cat.No. 40545C

1. Your name, address, and social security number;
2. A statement that you want a conference;A statement that you want a conference;
3. A copy of this letter, or the date and number of this letter;
4. The tax periods involved (see Form 2751);
5. A list of the findings you disagreement with;
6. A statement of fact, signed under penalties of perjury, that explains why you disagree and why you believe you shouldn’t be charged with the penalty. Include specific dates, names, amounts, and locations which support your position. Usually, penalty cases like this one involve issues of responsibility and willfulness.  Willfulness means that an action was intentional, deliberate or voluntary and not an accident or mistake.  Therefore, your statement should include a clear explanation of duties and responsibilities; and specifically, your duty and authority to collect, account for, and pay the trust fund taxes.  Should you disagree with how we calculated the penalty, your statement should identify the dates and amounts of payments that you believe we didn’t consider and/or any computation errors that you believe we made.
   NOTE:
   To declare that the statement in item 6 is true under penalties of perjury, you must add the following to your statement and sign it:
   “Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined the facts presented in this statement and any accompanying information, and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, they are true, correct, and complete.”;
7. If you rely on a law or other authority to support your arguments, explain what it is and how it applies.

REPRESENTATION

You may be represent yourself at your conference or have someone who is qualified to practice before Internal Revenue Service represent you.  This may be your attorney, a  certified public accountant, or another individual enrolled to practice before the IRS.  If your representative attends a conference without you, he or she must file a power of attorney or tax information authorization before receiving or inspecting confidential tax information.  Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, or Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, may be used for this purpose.  Both forms are available from any IRS office.  A properly written power of attorney or authorization is acceptable.

If your representative prepares and signs the protest for you, he or she must substitute a declaration stating:

1. That he or she submitted the protest and accompanying documents, and
2. Whether he or she knows personally that the facts stated in the protest and accompanying documents are true and correct.

CLAIMS FOR REFUND AND CONSIDERATION BY THE COURTS
CONSIDERATION BY THE COURTS

If you and the IRS still disagree after your conference, we will send you a bill.  However, by following the procedures outlined below, you may take your case to the United States Court of Federal Claims or to your United States District Court.  These courts have no connection with the IRS.

Before you can file a claim with these courts, you must pay a portion of the tax liability and file a claim for refund with the IRS, as described below.

SPECIAL BOND TO DELAY IRS COLLECTION ACTIONS
FOR ANY PERIOD AS SOON AS A CLAIM FOR REFUND IS FILED

To request a delay in collection of the penalty by the IRS for any period as soon as you file a claim for refund for that period, you must do the following within 30 days of the date of the official notice of assessment and demand (the first bill) for that period:

1. Pay the tax for one employee for each period (quarter) of liability that you wish to contest, if we’ve based the amount of the penalty on unpaid employment taxes; or pay the tax for one transaction for each period that you wish to contest, if we’ve based the amount of the penalty on unpaid excise tax.
2. File a claim for a refund of the amount(s) you paid using Form(s) 843, Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement.
3. Post a bond with the IRS for one and one half times the amount of the penalty that is left after you have made the payment in Item 1.

If the IRS denies your claim when you have posted this bond, you then have 30 days to file suit in your United States District Court or the United States Court of Federal Claims before the IRS may apply the bond to your trust fund recovery penalty and the interest accruing on this debt.