John Ryskamp v. Commissioner of IRS

797 F.3d 1142, 418 U.S. App. D.C. 278, 116 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5614, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 14269, 2015 WL 4772534
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedAugust 14, 2015
Docket14-1042
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 797 F.3d 1142 (John Ryskamp v. Commissioner of IRS) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
John Ryskamp v. Commissioner of IRS, 797 F.3d 1142, 418 U.S. App. D.C. 278, 116 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5614, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 14269, 2015 WL 4772534 (D.C. Cir. 2015).

Opinions

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge PILLARD.

Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge BROWN.

PILLARD, Circuit Judge:

John Ryskamp underpaid federal income taxes for several years and did not respond to the Internal Revenue Service’s demand for payment. The Internal Revenue Code provides that, before the IRS levies against the taxpayer’s property to collect unpaid taxes, the taxpayer is entitled to what the IRS refers to as a Collection Due Process (CDP) hearing before an impartial officer of the IRS Appeals Office. 26 U.S.C. §§ 6330, 6331(d). Subsection 6330(g) of the Code provides, however, that if any “portion of a request for a hearing” is frivolous or reflects the taxpayer’s desire to delay or impede the administration of the federal tax laws, the Appeals Office may treat such portion as if it were never .submitted, and it “shall not be subject to any further administrative or judicial review.” ' Id. § 6330(g). The IRS Appeals Office denied Ryskamp a Collection Due Process hearing based on its unexplained determination that all the reasons he gave for requesting a hearing were frivolous and contends that its friyolousness determination is not subject to judicial review. The tax court held that it has [1144]*1144jurisdiction to conduct a review limited to whether the IRS correctly treated Rys-kamp’s arguments as frivolous. We agree with the tax court’s conclusion regarding jurisdiction. We also agree with the tax court’s assessment that the IRS’s boilerplate letter rejecting Ryskamp’s arguments as frivolous was inadequate. Finally, after remand, the Appeals Office held a Collection Due Process hearing, and the tax court correctly decided that the Office did not abuse its discretion in concluding the IRS could proceed with collection actions. We thus affirm the tax court’s decision in its entirety.

I.

The Internal Revenue Code contains procedures that permit a taxpayer to contest the methods used by the IRS to collect overdue taxes, including the IRS’s imposition of a levy on a taxpayer’s property. Id. §§ 6330, 6331(a). Before levying property, the Service must provide the taxpayer with written notice of its intent to levy and inform the taxpayer of his right to a Collection Due Process hearing before a neutral official in the IRS’s Appeals Office. Id. §§ 6330(a)(1), 6331(d). At such a hearing, a taxpayer can challenge the appropriateness of a collection action, propose collection alternatives, and contest the underlying tax liability (if he did not already have an opportunity to dispute it).1 Id. § 6330(c)(2). After the hearing, the Appeals Office issues a determination. That determination must “take into consideration” the issues raised by the taxpayer, the Service’s verification that “the requirements of any applicable law or administrative procedure have been met,” and “whether any proposed collection action balances the need for the efficient collection of taxes with the legitimate concern of the [taxpayer] that any collection action be no more intrusive than necessary.” Id. § 6330(c). There is no dispute that, after a Collection Due Process hearing, a taxpayer may seek review in the tax court of the Service’s determination. Id. § 6330(d)(1).

The parties’ dispute focuses on the extent to which the Code eliminates judicial review of the Service’s decision to deny a taxpayer’s request for a Collection Due Process hearing on the ground that it is entirely frivolous. See id. § 6330(g). The Code defines as frivolous any position that appears on the IRS’s published list of frivolous positions or that otherwise “reflects a desire to delay or impede the administration of Federal tax laws.” Id. § 6702(b)(2)(A); see also id. § 6330(g). The IRS’s list of frivolous positions includes arguments such as: compliance with the internal revenue laws is voluntary or optional; the taxpayer’s income is not taxable because he is a citizen exclusively of a state (and not a United States citizen); only certain types of taxpayers are required to pay income taxes (such as federal government employees or corporations); and federal income taxes are unconstitutional. I.R.S. Notice 2008-14, 2008-1 C.B. 310.2 If the IRS determines that a portion of a taxpayer’s request for a Collection Due Process hearing is frivolous, the Code provides that the IRS “may treat such [1145]*1145portion as if it were never submitted and such portion shall not be subject to any further administrative or judicial review.” 26 U.S.C. § 6330(g). The IRS read subsection (g) to deprive the tax court of jurisdiction in this case to review whether the Service correctly determined that Rys-kamp’s hearing request was entirely frivolous and thus could be treated as if it were never filed.

For six of the years between 2003 and 2009, Ryskamp incurred tax liabilities through inadequate withholding from his earnings and failure to make estimated tax payments. In 2011, the IRS notified Rys-kamp that it intended to levy his property in order to collect his delinquent taxes. Ryskamp requested a Collection Due Process hearing to challenge the levy. The content of his original request is unknown, as it was lost by the IRS. The IRS rejected the request pursuant to subsection (g). The Service stated that Ryskamp had not offered a legitimate reason for requesting a hearing and asked that he withdraw his frivolous positions and amend his request to provide a legitimate reason. Ryskamp submitted an amended request and attempted to state legitimate grounds. Rys-kamp observed, however, that “without further information from you [about the basis of your frivolousness determinations] I cannot decide which, if any, are the frivolous/desire-to-delay issues I presented in my [original] Request.” Amicus App. 12. Once again, the IRS concluded that Ryskamp failed to offer a legitimate reason for requesting a hearing and relied only on his frivolous reasons. The Appeals Office stated that it was disregarding Rys-kamp’s request, but its letter recited the various possible reasons the Service can find a position to be frivolous without specifying on which of the legal grounds it was relying.3

Ryskamp then filed a petition in the tax court. The tax court first described the argument the IRS would later label as frivolous: what Ryskamp called “the law of the minimization of the risk of loss” of “collection-financial-standards facts,” or “CFS facts.” Amicus App. 24. The court noted, it was “deeply unclear” what Rys-kamp meant by that phrase, which is not a recognized term of art. Id. The court observed that “CFS facts” appeared to refer to “facts relevant to the IRS’s application of its collection financial standards — standards that it issues to help individual appeals officers decide ... whether a taxpayer would suffer economic hardship if he had to pay overdue taxes in full or immediately.” Id. By a “risk of loss” of those facts, the tax court understood Ryskamp to be arguing that, once he requested a Collection Due Process hearing, “his financial position in life [should] be frozen in place and [he should be] protected from anything that might increase his rent, cost him his job, and result in liability for state income taxes.” Id.

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Bluebook (online)
797 F.3d 1142, 418 U.S. App. D.C. 278, 116 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5614, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 14269, 2015 WL 4772534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/john-ryskamp-v-commissioner-of-irs-cadc-2015.