Flynn v. Commissioner

40 T.C. 770, 1963 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 79
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJuly 31, 1963
DocketDocket Nos. 4836-62, 4837-62
StatusPublished
Cited by57 cases

This text of 40 T.C. 770 (Flynn v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Flynn v. Commissioner, 40 T.C. 770, 1963 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 79 (tax 1963).

Opinion

Bkuce, Judge:

These proceedings are presently before the Court on motions filed March 7, 1963, by petitioner Philip F. Flynn in Docket No. 4836-62, and by petitioners Philip F. Flynn and Lorayne Flynn in Docket No. 4837-62, to declare the statutory notice of deficiency issued by respondent in each case to be “* * * Deficient and in Contravention of Law and to Dismiss the Proceedings.” These motions were heard by the Court at a calendar held in Chicago, Ill., on April 15,1963, and taken under submission with leave to the parties to submit briefs. The pertinent facts as disclosed by the pleadings, transcript, and submissions of the parties are basically not in dispute.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Philip F. Flynn and Lorayne Flynn are husband and wife residing in Naperville, Ill. Individual income tax returns were timely filed by Philip F. Flynn for the years 1946 and 1947, and joint income tax returns were filed by Philip F. Flynn and Lorayne Flynn for the years 1948 and 1949, with the collector of internal revenue for the northern district of Illinois (or the district director of internal revenue, Chicago, Ill.).

On March 21, 1961, petitioner Philip F. Flynn received a 30-day letter from the district director of internal revenue, Chicago, Ill., enclosing a revenue agent’s report dated January 27, 1961, which proposed deficiencies in income tax in the amounts of $15,333.40 and $14,629.30, respectively, together with additions to tax under sections 293(b) and 294(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, for the taxable years 1946 and 1947.

On March 21, 1961, a similar 30-day letter and report was received by petitioners Philip F. Flynn and Lorayne Flynn which proposed deficiencies in income tax in the amounts of $69,868.22 and $44,277.40, respectively, together with additions to tax under sections 293(b) and 294 (d), for the taxable years 1948 and 1949.

Written protests were filed by petitioners protesting the proposed deficiencies and additions to tax set forth in the 30-day letters and reports, and on June 8 and July 6, 1961, conferences were held between petitioners’ representative and a member of the appellate division of the office of the district director of internal revenue at Chicago, Ill., with respect to such written protests. No agreement was reached as a result of said conferences.

Statutory notices of deficiency were mailed to Philip F. Flynn and to Philip F. Flynn and Lorayne Flynn, respectively, on September 28, 1962, wherein respondent determined deficiencies in income tax and additions to tax as follows:

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The deficiencies in income tax and additions thereto determined by respondent in the statutory notices of deficiency, covering the years 1946, 1947, and 1948, were in greater amounts than the proposed deficiencies and additions to tax contained in the agent’s report attached to the 30-day letters; those for the year 1949 were in lesser amounts.

On December 20, 1962, Philip F. Flynn (Docket No. 4836 — 62) and Philip F. Flynn and Lorayne Flynn (Docket No. 4837-62), respectively, filed petitions with this Court seeking a redetermination of the deficiencies in income tax and additions to tax as determined by respondent in the statutory notices of deficiency dated September 28, 1962.

In addition to contesting the correctness of respondent’s determinations respecting the amounts of unreported income received by petitioners for each of the years involved, petitioners pleaded the statute of limitations as to each of said years, and also alleged that the examinations and investigations (in 1959 and 1960) of petitioners’ returns for each of the years involved were in violation of section 7605 (b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

Respondent, in his answers, denied the material allegations con-tamed in the petitions and further alleged that the returns filed by petitioners for each of the years involved were false or fraudulent with intent to evade tax and accordingly, as provided by section 276(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 (section 6501(c) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954), that the assessment and collection of the deficiencies and additions to tax are not barred by limitation.

OPINION

The question presented is essentially one of jurisdiction. Petitioners contend that the action of the Commissioner in issuing the statutory notices was wrongful, illegal, and unlawful because the deficiencies in tax and additions to tax as set forth in the statutory notices were substantially greater or lesser in amount than the proposed deficiencies and additions to tax contained in the revenue agent’s reports attached to the 30-day letters, that petitioners were not advised or notified of such amounts prior to the mailing of the statutory notice and accordingly were deprived of the review procedures provided in the Statement of Procedural Rules, 26 C.F.R., part 601, and in particular by section 601.105 (d) thereof.

Section 6212 (a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 provides that:

(a) In General — If the Secretary or Ms delegate determines that there is a deficiency in respect of any tax imposed by subtitles A or B, he is authorized to send notice of such deficiency to the taxpayer by certified mail or registered mail.

The filing of a petition with this Court within 90 or 150 days, as the case may be, after the mailing of the notice of deficiency, confers jurisdiction upon this Court to consider and determine the correctness of respondent’s determination. Secs. 6213(a) and 6214(a), I.R.C. 1954.

In the case at bar, respondent determined that there were deficiencies in respect to tax imposed by subtitle A in the case of petitioners for each of the years in question. He therefore mailed to petitioners notices of deficiency and petitioners filed their petitions in this Court within the prescribed time. These events having occurred, we have jurisdiction to determine the correctness of such determinations.

Petitioners would have us go behind respondent’s determinations and inquire into respondent’s motives and the propriety of the administrative policy and procedures employed by him prior to making his determinations. This we may not do as has been held by this and other Courts in prior cases.

In the case of Charles Crowther, 28 T.C. 1293, affirmed as to this point 269 F. 2d 292 (C.A. 9, 1959), the petitioners complained that the Commissioner acted in an arbitrary manner in finding the deficiencies involved, in failing to furnish petitioners with a 30-day letter, and in failing to make a proper investigation before sending out the 90-day deficiency notices. We held (p. 1301):

We have jurisdiction to consider and determine, * * * the correctness of the respondent’s determinations of the deficiencies here involved. But we are without jurisdiction to consider and determine the propriety of the respondent’s motives in making such determinations, H. F. Kerr, 5 B.T.A. 1073 [affd. 66 F. 2d 419 (C.A. 2,1933)], or the propriety of the administrative policy and procedures he employed prior to making such determinations, Olois L. Greene, 2 B.T.A. 148; Southern California Loan Association, 4 B.T.A.

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Bluebook (online)
40 T.C. 770, 1963 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 79, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/flynn-v-commissioner-tax-1963.