Kalkhoven v. United States

District Court, E.D. California·Decided September 15, 2021·No. 2:21-cv-01440·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 Kevin Kalkhoven, No. 2:21-cv-01440-KJM-JDP 12 Plaintiff, ORDER 13 v. 14 United States of America, 1S Defendant. 16 17 Kevin Kalkhoven appeals the jeopardy assessment the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has 18 | effected against him. Specifically, Kalkhoven asks this court to abate the jeopardy assessment 19 | and the liens and levies imposed by the IRS. Having considered the parties’ briefing and 20 | arguments made at hearing, the court denies the motion as explained below. 21 | I. BACKGROUND 22 On July 6, 2021, the IRS initiated a jeopardy assessment against Kevin Kalkhoven. 23 | Compl. 4 1, ECF No. 1. The assessment was based on a number of factors: a review of 24 | Kalkhoven’s tax returns for the last twenty years, primarily for tax years 2000 and 2001; his 25 | participation in various tax shelters with substantial assets held in offshore accounts, a subject 26 | which is the subject of ongoing litigation; and the sale and timing of sale of major real estate 27 | holdings, the proceeds of which the IRS believes flow to Mr. Kalkhoven. See generally Jeopardy 28 | Recommendation Report, Pl. Ex. B, ECF No. 18-4. One such real estate sale includes the June

1 2021 sale of a 100-acre property in Alamo, California valued at $30 million with an asking price 2 of $19.5 million, that sold for $16.9 million; while an entity known as St. Moritz Dorf, LLC was 3 the purported seller, the IRS believes Kalkhoven actually owned the property and directed the 4 sale or otherwise controlled the asset in ways that have benefitted him personally. Id. at 5, 10–11; 5 Gov. Br. at 3, ECF No. 22. The sale of the Alamo property followed a March 2021 decision by 6 the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeal, “finding that one partnership [Kalkhoven] had invested in was a 7 sham.” Gov. Br. at 3; BCP Trading and Investments, LLC v. Comm’r, 991 F.3d 1253 (D.C. Cir. 8 2021) (affirming the Tax Court’s decision the BCP Trading & Investments, LLC partnership was 9 a sham). Based on the partnership dealings and applicable loan penalty and tax penalty interest, 10 the IRS calculated Kalkhoven would owe $349,576,778 in taxes once the decision became final. 11 Jeopardy Recommendation Report at 14. 12 Kalkhoven appealed the jeopardy assessment to the IRS Appeals Team, arguing the 13 determination was “largely based on factual inaccuracies and faulty reasoning.” Compl. ¶ 3. The 14 IRS Appeals Team held a hearing on August 10, 2021. Id. Kalkhoven alleges the IRS Appeals 15 Team Case Leader “declined to consider any evidence” he presented, id. ¶ 4, and determined the 16 assessment was reasonable. Id. 17 Kalkhoven initiated this action under 26 U.S.C. § 7429, seeking judicial review of the 18 jeopardy assessment and levy. See generally Compl. He asks the court to abate the assessment in 19 full, “to bar the IRS from any future action to enforce the [a]ssessment or to levy against any 20 property pursuant to it, and to have the many items of property improperly seized or frozen by the 21 IRS restored to their rightful owners.” Id. ¶ 1. Kalkhoven has filed a Motion for Determination 22 of Petition Judicial Review, ECF No. 18-1, to which the government has responded, ECF No. 22. 23 The court held a videoconference hearing on the matter on August 30, 2021. Michael L. Charlson 24 appeared and argued for the plaintiff and Jeremy Nolan Hendon appeared and argued for the 25 government.1 Following hearing, the court directed focused supplemental briefing, which is now

1 Kalkhoven filed supplemental exhibits on the day of hearing, without leave of court. At hearing, the government moved to strike the documents. Kalkhoven opposed. The granting of a motion to strike “may be proper if it will . . . eliminate serious risks of prejudice to the moving 1 also before the court. Min. Order, ECF No. 30; Pl. Suppl. Br., ECF No. 31; Gov. Suppl. Br., ECF 2 No. 32. 4 “Under normal assessment procedure, there is usually a considerable lapse of time 5 between a taxpayer’s first notice that the IRS is seeking to collect the tax and the actual enforced 6 collection of the tax.” Burd v. United States, 774 F. Supp. 903, 905 (D.N.J. 1991). The lapse in 7 time is “due in part to the taxpayer’s right to contest [the assessment] in the United States Tax 8 Court.” Id. Under 26 U.S.C. § 6861 “[i]f the collection of income tax will be jeopardized by 9 delay, the IRS is statutorily authorized to expedite collection by immediate levy, via a jeopardy 10 assessment, upon a taxpayers’ property.” Olbres v. Internal Revenue Serv., 837 F. Supp. 20, 21 11 (D.N.H. 1993). “[T]he jeopardy proceeding is of a summary nature and does not amount to a 12 final determination of plaintiff’s correct tax liability.” Varjabedian v. United States, 339 F. Supp. 13 2d 140, 144–45 (D. Mass. 2004) (citation and marks omitted). 14 Under the statute Kalkhoven invokes here, 26 U.S.C. § 7429(b), a taxpayer may seek 15 judicial review of a jeopardy assessment. See id. § 7429(b)(1)–(2)(“[T]he taxpayer may bring a 16 civil action against the United States for a determination under this subsection -- district courts of 17 the United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any civil action for a determination under 18 this subsection). The court’s review is de novo. Olbres, 837 F. Supp. at 21; Fumo v. United 19 States, No. 13-3313, 2014 WL 2547797, at *16 (E.D. Pa. June 5, 2014) (“The district court’s 20 review . . . gives the IRS’s administrative determination regarding the jeopardy assessment no 21 deference whatsoever.”). The district court’s consideration is limited to determining only 22 1) whether the jeopardy assessment was reasonable under the circumstances, and 2) whether the 23 amount assessed was appropriate. 26 U.S.C. § 7429(b)(3); Olbres, 837 F. Supp. at 21. The 24 government bears the burden on the first issue, while the taxpayer bears the burden of proof on 25 the second. 26 U.S.C. § 7429(g)(1)–(2). Here, Kalkhoven does not challenge the amount 26 assessed and so the court need only address the first question. In doing so, it bears in mind that

WL 1466944, at *2 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 18, 2011) (citation omitted). The court grants the motion to strike. 1 “‘[r]easonable under the circumstances’ means something more than ‘not arbitrary or capricious’ 2 and something less than ‘supported by substantial evidence.’” Varjabedian, 339 F. Supp. 2d at 3 144–45 (citation omitted). “To sustain its jeopardy assessment the government need only show 4 that circumstances are such that collection of taxes owed might be jeopardized if collection efforts 5 are delayed pending routine administrative processing—not that collection actually will be 6 jeopardized.” Olbres, 837 F. Supp. at 22 (emphasis added).2 7 In conducting this “form of summary judicial review . . . the courts may decide the case 8 based on affidavits only and need not conduct an evidentiary hearing.” Arnold v. United States, 9 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22310, *18–19 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 13, 1998) (collecting cases). In reaching 10 its conclusion, the court “can hear evidence that may be inadmissible in a trial . . . [and] take into 11 account not only information available to the [IRS] on the assessment date, but also any other 12 information which bears on the issues before it.” Varjabedian, 339 F. Supp. 2d. at 144 (citation 13 and marks omitted).

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