IRS Mailed Notice to Wrong Address

James H. Eisenhardt said he didn't owe any taxes because he didn't get a notice on time.

The Internal Revenue Service had audited Eisenhardt who lived on 20th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The agency mailed him a tax due notice at that address, and it was returned marked "Moved, left no forwarding address."

When the IRS caught up with him, it demanded payment. He refused and went to court, claiming the notification time had expired.

The agency said it had timely mailed a notice to his Fort Lauderdale address.

Wrong address, he said. The judge agreed and said the taxpayer wouldn't have to pay the tax increase. Eisenhardt had told the IRS agent he was moving: He was leaving the next day to serve five years in Atlanta's federal prison.

The moral: It's hard to hit a moving target, but your aim is really bad if you can't hit one that's caged.

Usually, the IRS has three years to mail a notice to the taxpayer's last known address. Otherwise, the errant taxpayer gets off free.

After the agency mails the notice, it demands payment. When Peter and Mary Pietanza received a payment demand, they said they had never received an official notice.

The IRS claimed it had mailed one.

The Pietanzas said, prove it.

In court the IRS admitted it had lost most of the file. It had only the following: a draft of a deficiency notice, which had an incorrect amount, and a Postal Service form showing the agency had mailed something to the Pietanzas.

The court refused to increase taxes, based on pitifully inadequate proof.

Roy and Shirley Keeton of Winona, Mo., were convicted of income tax evasion. He went to prison, and she was placed on probation. She moved to Atchison, Kan., to be close to her husband.

The IRS sent a deficiency notice to their Winona address.

The couple went to court saying the agency sent the notice to the wrong address.

Surely, the IRS knew Roy Keeton's address, the judge said, it put him there - in prison.

A.J. Cook is a lawyer and CPA. His tax column appears weekly in numerous newspapers. Why isn't it published in your hometown newspaper? Ask its Business Editor to subscribe.