Gongaware v. United States (In re Gongaware)

207 B.R. 95, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 342, 79 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 2017, 1997 WL 151748
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 28, 1997
DocketBankruptcy No. 95-22608 JKF; Motion No. JPV-1
StatusPublished

This text of 207 B.R. 95 (Gongaware v. United States (In re Gongaware)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gongaware v. United States (In re Gongaware), 207 B.R. 95, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 342, 79 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 2017, 1997 WL 151748 (Pa. 1997).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION1

JUDITH K. FITZGERALD, Bankruptcy Judge.

We must determine Debtor’s Objections to Proof of Claim of the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS claim is for the 100 percent penalty assessed against Debtor pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6672 for trust fund taxes that were not paid by Triad Manufacturing Company, of which Debtor was vice president and 49 percent shareholder.2 Triad Manufacturing Company filed a chapter 11 on or about March 18, 1987.3 At that time, Triad owed approximately $40,000 to the IRS. Most of this amount represented unpaid employment taxes. On or about May 6, 1987, the IRS assessed a 100 percent civil penalty against “Dave Gongaware” and John Guckert, Triad’s 51 percent shareholder, as responsible officers of Triad for the periods ended September 30, 1986, December 31, 1986, and March 31, 1987, in the amount of $24,480.54.4 See Government Exhibit A-2. On October 29, 1990, the IRS again assessed a civil penalty against “Dave Gongaware” as a responsible officer of Triad in the amount of $6,092.09 for the period ended September 30, 1988.5 Government Exhibit B-2.

Debtor filed this chapter 13 petition on July 14, 1995. The IRS timely filed a proof of claim asserting a secured claim in the amount of $12,350 and an unsecured priority claim in the amount of $49,017.22. An amended proof of claim was filed on or about [98]*98March 8,1996, in the amount of $54,103.33, of which $12,350 is claimed as secured and $41,-753.33 as unsecured. Debtor seeks an order disallowing the claim of the Internal Revenue Service on the grounds that (1) the taxes were not properly assessed and he was not the person identified on the relevant documents, (2) if the identified person was Debt- or, he cannot be considered a “responsible person” of Triad because he exercised insufficient control over the company’s financial affairs and (3) the amounts claimed by the IRS are too high. The facts as stipulated by the parties and as found by the court from the evidence presented at trial on November 1, 1996, follow, as do our conclusions of law.

Is Debtor the “Dave Gongaware" Who Was Assessed in 1987?

Debtor does not admit that he is the “Dave Gongaware” against whom the assessments were made. In connection with Debtor’s name, the 1987 assessment stated an address and social security number that were not his. The IRS’s internal request for assessments, Form 2749, Government Exhibit A-2, identifies the responsible person of Triad as:

David Gongaware
536 Oakland Avenue
Greensburg, PA 15601
Social Security Number AAA-BB-CCCC

Under the heading “Related Assessments” is listed:

John Guckert
660 Kimlyn Avenue
N. Huntington, PA 15642
Social Security Number XXX-YY-ZZZZ *

Debtor’s social security number is XXX-YY-ZZZZ and Guckert’s is AAA-BB-CCCC. Debtor resides, and has resided at all relevant times, at 16 Observatory Street, Manor, Pénnsylvania. His mailing address is and has been at all relevant times P.O. Box 584, Manor, Pennsylvania, 15665. The evidence adduced at trial established that another David Gongaware resides at the Oakland Avenue address listed on the 1987 assessment. Debtor testified, and his testimony is undisputed, that this is not his address, that he does not know the other David Gongaware and that the two are not related. The IRS concedes that the contested information on the assessment was incorrect. According to the deposition testimony of Katherine Biros, a tax examiner’s assistant for the Congressional Unit of the Technical Problem Resolution Program of the IRS, the incorrect address and social security number appearing in connection with Debtor’s name were not corrected in the IRS records concerning the assessment until August of 1989 (social security number) and October of 1990 (address). Ms. Biros testified that Debtor’s address was changed later due to the processing of a tax return in the week of October 14, 1990. See Deposition Exhibit 2, Certificate of Official Record regarding attached Certificate of Assessments and Payments. ■

The second assessment occurred on October 29, 1990, after the address and social security number were corrected. The documents show the following: Government Exhibit B-2, Request for 100 Percent Penalty Assessment, created around September of 1990, contains the same names, addresses, and social security numbers that appeared on the 1987 Request for 100-Percent Penalty Assessment, Government Exhibit A-2, but the typed social security numbers for Gonga-ware and Guckert are lined through and their correct social security numbers are handwritten next to their names. The evidence shows that the social security number of each was originally typed next to the other’s name and later corrected by hand. Government Exhibit B-2.

Notwithstanding the incorrect social security number and address on the 1987 assessment, we find that Debtor was sufficiently identified. The errors cast doubt on the accuracy of the amount of the assessment, which will be discussed below, but not on the identity of the taxpayer. The social security numbers on the 1987 assessment belong to Debtor and Guckert, the sole officers and shareholders of Triad, although the positions of the social security numbers on the form were switched. Marilyn Riccio, accounting technician at the IRS’ Philadelphia Service Center, testified that the taxpayer’s social security number is the mode of identification used most often by the IRS and that it is the [99]*99single most important piece of information. The address was not corrected until October of 1990 but this is not dispositive. It was corrected prior to the October 29, 1990, assessment and, even before that, Debtor certainly knew that he, not another David Gon-gaware, was one of two shareholders in Triad and that the other was John Guckert.

Section 301.6109-1 of title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations state's that there are three types of taxpayer identifying numbers: the social security number, the IRS individual taxpayer identification number, and the employer identification number. The social security number is defined in 301.7701-11 as the taxpayer identifying number of an individual. Section 6109(a) of the Internal Revenue Code states that an identifying number shall be included in returns when required by regulation and that that number is the social security number. Section 301.6109-l(a)(ii)(A) states that “an individual required to furnish a taxpayer identifying number must use a social security number”.6 See also 26 U.S.C. § 6109(d); 26 C.F.R. § 31.3406(h)-l(b) (taxpayer identification number is “generally a nine-digit social security number for an individual”); 26 C.F.R. § 31

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207 B.R. 95, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 342, 79 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 2017, 1997 WL 151748, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gongaware-v-united-states-in-re-gongaware-pawb-1997.