Bush v. United States

78 Fed. Cl. 76, 100 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5655, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 271, 2007 WL 2389542
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedAugust 17, 2007
DocketNos. 02-1041T, 04-1598T
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 78 Fed. Cl. 76 (Bush v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bush v. United States, 78 Fed. Cl. 76, 100 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5655, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 271, 2007 WL 2389542 (uscfc 2007).

Opinion

OPINION

BRUGGINK, Judge.

This case is one of approximately thirty tax refund suits brought by partners of various partnerships marketed by the Greenberg Brothers Partnership. In an order issued on October 24, 2005, the court selected two of these Greenberg-related cases, Case No. 02-1041T (Bush) and Case No. 02-1042T (Shelton ), for briefing and representative resolution.1

Plaintiffs Lyman F. Bush and Beverly J. Bush, deceased and represented by Lyman F. Bush as personal representative for the estate of Beverly J. Bush, have moved for summary judgment with regard to a portion of their claims. In this pending summary judgment motion, plaintiffs claim that post-settlement assessments for tax years 1985, 1986 and 1987, made by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), were invalid because a statutory notice of deficiency was not issued prior to the assessments. Defendant has cross-moved. The matter is fully briefed. Oral argument was heard on August 8, 2007. For reasons set out below, we deny plaintiffs’ motion and grant defendant’s cross-motion for partial summary judgment.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs were limited partners in the Greenberg Brothers Partnership # 12, Lone Wolf McQuade (“LWM”), for tax years 1983 to 1995. Plaintiffs were also limited partners in the Greenberg Brothers Partnership Cinema '84 (“Cinema '84”) for tax years 1984 to 1995. On July 8, 1991, the IRS issued Notices of Final Partnership Administrative Adjustment (“FPAA”) for tax years 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986 to the then Tax Matters Partner (“TMP”) for LWM. In the FPAA, the IRS explained its determination disallowing deductions reported on the LWM partnership’s 1983-1986 partnership returns. On October 15, 1991, the IRS issued FPAAs for Cinema '84’s 1985-1989 tax years, disallowing deductions imported on the partnership returns for those tax years.

The TMP filed separate petitions on behalf of LWM and Cinema '84 in the United States Tax Court on October 7,1991 and January 8, 1992, respectively, challenging the IRS’s proposed adjustments for each partnership. On December 2, 1994, plaintiffs filed a notice of election to participate in the Tax Court proceeding involving Cinema '84. On February 8, 1995, plaintiffs filed a notice of election to participate in the Tax Court proceeding involving LWM.

On August 7, 1999, while the proceedings involving the two partnerships were pending in the Tax Court, plaintiffs and the IRS entered into two separate Form 906 Closing Agreements on Final Determination Covering Specific Matters (“Closing Agreements”), settling matters with respect to LWM and Cinema '84. The two Closing Agreements were substantially the same. Subsequently, on September 1, 2000, the Tax Court dismissed plaintiffs as parties in both the LWM and Cinema '84 partnership proceedings.2

[78]*78The Closing Agreements provided in relevant part:

1. No adjustment to the partnership items shall be made for the taxable years 1983 through 1995 [for LWM; for Cinema '84, 1984-1995] for purposes of this settlement.
2. The taxpayers are entitled to claim their distributive share of the partnership losses for 1983 through 1995 [for LWM; for Cinema '84, 1984-1995] only to the extent they are at risk under I.R.C. § 465.
3. The taxpayers’ amount at risk for 1983 through 1986 [for LWM; for Cinema '84, 1984-1989] is their capital contribution to the partnership.
4. The taxpayers’ capital contribution to the partnership is $50,000.
5. Taxpayers’ qualified investment for computing investment tax credit is the amount at risk as set forth in paragraph # 4.
6. The taxpayers are not at risk under I.R.C. § 465 for any partnership notes, entered into by the partnership to acquire rights in [motion pictures], whether or not assumed by the taxpayers. Any losses disallowed under this agreement are suspended under I.R.C. § 465. Such suspended losses may be used to offset the taxpayers’ pro rata share of any income earned by the partnership and/or other income in accordance with the operation of I.R.C. § 465.
7. To the extent the taxpayers make additional cash contributions to the capital of the partnership after 1986 [for LWM; for Cinema '84, 1989], the taxpayers’ amount at risk will be increased in accordance with I.R.C. § 465.
8. To the extent the partnership earns net income the taxpayers’ at risk will be increased in accordance with I.R.C. § 465.
9. To the extent the taxpayers make cash payments on the partnership notes after the date of execution of this agreement by the Commissioner and the taxpayers, the taxpayers’ amount at risk will be increased in accordance with I.R.C. § 465.
15. Any refund claim attributable to the operation of this agreement shall be deemed to be timely filed and shall be allowed if it is filed with the IRS within one year of the execution of this agreement by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Any refund claim so submitted pursuant to this paragraph within 120 days after the execution of this agreement on behalf of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall be allowed as an offset pursuant to I.R.C. §§ 6402(a) and 6601(f) against any tax deficiencies resulting from this agreement.

Closing Agreements (Aug. 7,1999).3

On November 23, 1999, plaintiffs filed refund claims with the IRS for tax years 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1995. While these refund claims were still pending, on July 12, 2000, the IRS issued Forms 4549A-CG, notices of adjustment, showing adjustments it made to plaintiffs’ 1985, 1986 and 1987 tax years. In plaintiffs’ tax year 1983, the IRS allowed losses from LWM in the amount of $50,000.00 using up the entire amount at-risk available under paragraph 4 of the Closing Agreement for LWM. In plaintiffs’ tax year 1984, losses from Cinema '84 in the amount of $45,187.00 were allowed, using up the bulk of the § 465 amount available for that partnership.

In the original return for tax year 1985, plaintiffs had reported losses for LWM in the amount of $33,442.00 and losses for Cinema '84 in the amount of $21,553.00. The notice of adjustment issued on July 12, 2000 for plaintiffs’ 1985 tax year allowed none of the losses for LWM. This resulted in an adjustment of $33,442.00. The notice also allowed $4,813.00 of the $21,553.00 reported losses for [79]*79Cinema '84. This resulted in an adjustment of $16,740.00. The notice also disallowed $2,063.00 from itemized deductions reported as contribution carryover. Plaintiffs’ tax liability for 1985 was, as a result, increased by $16,708.00.

In the original return for tax year 1986, plaintiffs had reported $34,003.00 for losses from LWM and $20,079.00 for losses from Cinema '84. The notice of adjustment for plaintiffs’ 1986 tax year allowed none of the losses reported for LWM, resulting in an adjustment of $34,003.00. None of the reported losses from Cinema '84 was allowed, resulting in an adjustment of $20,079.00. These adjustments resulted in an increase in plaintiffs’ tax liability for 1986 of $10,817.00.

For tax year 1987, plaintiffs had reported their distributive share of income from LWM in the amount of $398.00, and losses from Cinema '84 in the amount of $25,733.00.

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Bluebook (online)
78 Fed. Cl. 76, 100 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5655, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 271, 2007 WL 2389542, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bush-v-united-states-uscfc-2007.