Alan Roland v. Internal Revenue Service

• Court: District Court, E.D. Washington
• Decided: March 30, 2026
• Docket: 2:25-cv-00264
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 FILED IN THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT 2 EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON Mar 30, 2026 3 SEAN F. MCAVOY, CLERK 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 6 7 ALAN ROLAND, NO. 2:25-CV-0264-TOR 8 Plaintiff, ORDER DISMISSING COMPLAINT 9 v. 10 INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, 11 Defendant. 12 BEFORE THE COURT is Plaintiff’s Construed Motion for Hearing (ECF 13 No. 3). Plaintiff filed a complaint against the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) on 14 July 24, 2025. ECF No. 1. Plaintiff alleges that the IRS claims that Plaintiff owes 15 the IRS $8,000 but the IRS actually owes Plaintiff. Id. at 4. That is the extent of 16 the facts alleged and the only relief requested is $15,000 in court costs. Id. at 7. 17 Plaintiff now brings a motion requesting a default hearing which the Court 18 construes as a motion for default judgment. ECF No. 3. First, Plaintiff has not 19 properly complied with the local rules in obtaining default judgment by first 20 securing a Clerk’s Order of Default. LCivR 55. Second, default judgment is 1 inappropriate in any event because Plaintiff never properly served Defendant 2 pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4, or filed proof of service with the

3 Court, and more than 90 days have passed since Plaintiff filed his complaint. Fed. 4 R. Civ. P. 4(m). And last, the IRS cannot be sued. In re Smith, 205 B.R. 226, 227 5 n.1 (B.A.P. 9th Cir. 1997). The proper party to this action would be the United

6 States, however, the United States is immune from suit unless Congress has 7 waived sovereign immunity for Plaintiff’s claim. United States v. Testan, 424 U.S. 8 392, 399 (1976). It is unclear from Plaintiff’s bare-boned complaint what the basis 9 for his claims are, what injuries he has suffered, and what relief he is requesting. It

10 appears Plaintiff may be disputing the IRS’s assessment of taxes owed for his 2019 11 and 2020 tax returns. 12 Title 28 U.S.C. § 1346(1) waives sovereign immunity for actions against the

13 United States “for the recovery of any internal-revenue tax alleged to have been 14 erroneously or illegally assessed or collected,” however, Internal Revenue Code § 15 7422(a) requires that a claim for refund or credit first be duly filed pursuant to 16 Internal Revenue Code § 6511 prior to seeking a tax refund in federal court.

17 Imperial Plan, Inc. v. United States, 95 F.3d 25, 26 (9th Cir. 1996). Plaintiff has 18 provided no evidence that this jurisdictional prerequisite has been met. 19 Therefore, the Court denies Plaintiff’s motion and dismisses Plaintiff’s

20 complaint without prejudice. ACCORDINGLY, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED: 2 1. Plaintiff's Construed Motion for Hearing (ECF No. 3) is DENIED. 3 2. Plaintiff's Complaint is DISMISSED without prejudice. 4 The District Court Executive is directed to enter this Order, furnish a copy to 5}| Plaintiff, and close the file. 6 DATED March 30, 2026.

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