erred (in the Government's favor) in preparing and filing their tax returns. Given the complexity of the Federal income tax laws, such taxpayer errors may well be common. We conclude that section 6330(c)(2)(B) is fairly read as providing a remedy to such taxpayers.

Respondent also urges that the legislative history of section 6330(c)(2)(B) and principles of sovereign immunity require that the provision be construed narrowly in the Commissioner's favor. We disagree. We see no ambiguity in the plain language of section 6330(c)(2)(B) that would justify resort to the legislative history for guidance in interpreting the provision. Moreover, we are not aware of any specific expression of congressional intent in the legislative history that would bar persons, such as petitioners, from raising a valid challenge to the existence or amount of tax previously reported due on a tax return. See Huntsberry v. Commissioner, 83 T.C. at 747–748. Considering the plain language of the statute, we find respondent's reliance on principles of sovereign immunity equally unavailing.

Our holding in this case advances the policies underlying sections 6320 and 6330. Those sections were enacted to provide taxpayers who have been notified that the Commissioner has filed a lien or intends to collect unpaid taxes by levy with a final opportunity to raise a spousal defense, offer an alternative means of collection, and/or challenge the appropriateness of the proposed collection action. Moreover, as pertinent herein, Congress provided taxpayers who are confronted with a lien or proposed levy, but who have not had a prior opportunity to challenge the existence or amount of the tax liability in question, with the opportunity to do so. In view of the statutory scheme as a whole, we think the substantive and procedural protections contained in sections 6320 and 6330 reflect congressional intent that the Commissioner should collect the correct amount of tax, and do so by observing all applicable laws and administrative procedures. To reflect the foregoing,

An order will be issued denying respondent's motion for summary judgment.

Reviewed by the Court.

WELLS, COHEN, SWIFT, LARO, FOLEY, VASQUEZ, THORNTON, HAINES, WHERRY, and KROUPA, JJ., agree with this majority opinion.

WELLS, C.J., concurring: Respectfully, I write separately to respond to the suggestion, raised by Judge Chiechi in her opinion dissenting and concurring in part, that respondent's motion for summary judgment should be denied on the narrow ground that section 301.6330-1(e), Proced. & Admin. Regs., is dispositive of the issue in the instant case. The issue before us is whether section 6330(c)(2)(B) permits a taxpayer to challenge in a lien and levy action in this Court the existence or amount of tax that the taxpayer previously reported due on his or her income tax return. The majority concludes, and I believe correctly so, that the plain language of section 6330(c)(2)(B) permits a taxpayer to raise such a challenge.

Judge Chiechi, however, agrees with the result reached by the majority only insofar as petitioners may challenge the existence or amount of the tax liability specified in the "final notice". I believe the majority, based on its interpretation of section 6330(c)(2)(B), correctly holds that petitioners may challenge the entire amount of tax, penalties, and interest that respondent assessed against them for the taxable year 2000.1

Section 301.6330-1(e), Proced. & Admin. Regs., quoted in full in the majority opinion, is an interpretative regulation that does nothing more than state a general proposition, to wit: A taxpayer may challenge in a collection review proceeding the existence or amount of the tax liability set forth in a final lien or levy notice if the taxpayer did not receive a notice of deficiency for such liability or did not otherwise have an opportunity to dispute such liability. The regulation largely tracks the language of section 6330(c)(2)(B), with the exception that the term "underlying tax liability" contained in the statute is in the regulation replaced by the phrase "the tax liability specified on the CDP Notice".

1 Petitioners not only challenge the $222,315.34 amount specified in respondent's final notice of intent to levy, but they also contend that they overpaid their taxes in the amount of $519,087.

Nowhere in the parties' motion or opposition or written and oral arguments have they cited or relied upon section 301.6330–1(e), Proced. & Admin. Regs. I suggest that the reason for the parties' failure to cite that regulation is that the proper disposition of respondent's motion depends upon the Court's statutory construction of section 6330(c)(2)(B).

In any event, the general rule espoused in the regulation is in no way dispositive of the specific question whether section 6330(c)(2)(B) permits a taxpayer to challenge the existence or amount of tax that was reported due on the taxpayer's return. It is respondent's position in the instant case that tax reported due on a return and assessed by respondent under section 6201 represents a unique assessment that Congress never intended to be subject to challenge under section 6330(c)(2)(B) (and by implication section 301.6330-1(e), Proced. & Admin. Regs.). Under the circumstances, I believe that it is incumbent upon this Court to resolve the question the parties raised and argued by analyzing the controlling statutory provision, as opposed to relying upon a general statement appearing in an interpretative regulation.

FOLEY, THORNTON, and KROUPA, JJ., agree with this concurring opinion.

LARO, J., concurring: I agree with the majority opinion. I write separately to emphasize two points underlying that opinion.

1. The Term "Underlying Tax Liability" Is Unambiguous

The relevant term, "underlying tax liability”, is clear and unambiguous and is read easily to mean the tax liability underlying the proposed levy. The beginning and end of our inquiry, therefore, must be the statutory text, and we must apply the plain meaning of that text. TVA v. Hill, 437 U.S. 153, 185 n.29 (1978); United States v. Am. Trucking Associations, 310 U.S. 534, 543 (1940). Only when text is "inescapably ambiguous" may we resort to the legislative history to discern its meaning. Garcia v. United States, 469 U.S. 70, 76 n.3 (1984). The meaning of the relevant term is not inescapably ambiguous. Whereas respondent essentially reads the relevant term to mean “underlying tax deficiency", Congress

obviously knew how to use the word "deficiency" and presumably would have used that word in the relevant term had it intended the reading advocated by respondent.

2. Legislative History Supports the Majority Opinion

Even if we were permitted to consult the legislative history of section 6330(c)(2) to discern the meaning of the relevant term, the legislative history supports interpreting the term in accordance with its plain meaning. The history to section 6330, as stated in the committee reports and as discerned from the setting in which that section was enacted, reveals that Congress intended that a taxpayer be allowed under that section to dispute a tax liability underlying a proposed levy whenever the taxpayer did not have a prior opportunity to dispute that liability either through the receipt of a notice of deficiency or otherwise.

The enactment of section 6330 followed more than a year of congressional investigations and hearings over the future of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), resulting in highly publicized criticisms of the agency's collection methods. Mesa Oil, Inc. v. United States, 86 AFTR 2d 2000-7312, 2001-1 USTC par. 50,130 (D. Colo. 2000). We know from the Senate report that the Senate Finance Committee intended that section 6330 would establish "formal procedures designed to insure due process where the IRS seeks to collect taxes by levy". S. Rept. 105-174, at 67 (1998), 1998–3 C.B. 537, 603. We also know from that report that the committee believed that the addition of section 6330 would afford to taxpayers in dealing with the IRS rights which were similar to the rights afforded to all persons in dealing with any other creditor. S. Rept. 105-174, supra at 67, 1998-3 C.B. at 603. To this end, the committee declared, the Commissioner would by virtue of section 6330 need henceforth to "afford taxpayers adequate notice of collection activity and a meaningful hearing before the IRS deprives them of their property." Id. The committee believed that these procedures would "increase fairness to taxpayers." Id.

The history of section 6330(c)(2) also reveals that the Administration had during the legislative process voiced its concern to two Members of Congress that the relevant term included self-assessed liabilities and that those liabilities

should not be included within the breadth of that section. See letter from L. Anthony Sutin, Acting Assistant Attorney General, to the Hon. William V. Roth, Jr., Chairman, Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate, and the Hon. William Archer, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives (June 8, 1998), reprinted in Tax Notes Today, 98 TNT 112-41 (June 11, 1998); letter from Robert E. Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury, to the Hon. William Archer, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives (June 2, 1998), reprinted in Tax Notes Today, 98 TNT 112-40 (June 11, 1998); cf. Statement of Administration Policy, Office of Management and Budget (May 5, 1998), reprinted in Tax Notes Today, 98 TNT 87-18 (May 6, 1998). The Administration wrote those letters after the Senate passed the Senate's version of section 6330, H.R. 2676, sec. 3401(b), 105th Cong., 2d Sess. (May 5, 1998), but before the conference committee amended that version to read as enacted. The conferees, however, opted not to change the relevant term to address the Administration's stated concern. The Senate version of section 6330(c)(2), see id., 144 Cong. Rec. S4163 (daily ed. May 4, 1998), provided (emphasis added):

SEC. 6330(c)(2). ISSUES AT HEARING.-The person may raise at the hearing any relevant issue relating to the unpaid tax or the proposed levy, including

(A) challenges to the underlying tax liability as to existence and amount,

(B) appropriate spousal defenses,

(C) challenges to the appropriateness of collection actions, and

(D) offers of collection alternatives, which may include the posting of

a bond, the substitution of other assets, an installment agreement, or an offer-in-compromise.

Section 6330 as enacted provided (emphasis added):

SEC. 6330(c)(2). ISSUES AT HEARING.

(A) IN GENERAL.-The person may raise at the hearing any relevant issue relating to the unpaid tax or the proposed levy, including

(i) appropriate spousal defenses;

(ii) challenges to the appropriateness of collection actions; and (iii) offers of collection alternatives, which may include the posting of a bond, the substitution of other assets, an installment agreement, or an offer-in-compromise.

(B) UNDERLYING LIABILITY.-The person may also raise at the hearing challenges to the existence or amount of the underlying tax liability for