Lewis v. Comm'r

128 T.C. No. 6, 128 T.C. 48, 2007 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 5
United States Tax Court·Decided March 28, 2007·No. No. 6284-06L ·Published·Cited by 75 cases

Opinion

OPINION

Goeke, Judge:

This matter is before the Court on respondent’s motion for summary judgment. Respondent moves for summary judgment, pursuant to section 6330(c)(2)(B)1 and section 301.6330-l(e)(3), Proced. & Admin. Regs. Respondent argues that because petitioner was offered and participated in an Appeals conference, he is precluded from properly raising his underlying tax liability again in a subsequent collection review proceeding. Because we find section 301.6330-1(e)(3), Q&A-E2, Proced. & Admin. Regs., to be a reasonable expression of Congress’s intent and because petitioner participated in a conference with Appeals in which he was permitted to dispute his underlying tax liability, we hold that petitioner may not properly raise his tax liability again in a collection review hearing or before this Court. Accordingly, respondent’s motion will be granted.

Background

At the time his petition was filed, petitioner resided in Lancaster, California. Petitioner is a plumber by trade. Petitioner and his wife jointly filed their Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, for the 2002 tax year on January 25, 2004. Petitioner reported a tax due of $11,636 and enclosed payment of that amount with the return. Petitioner’s return was originally due on April 15, 2003. Respondent assessed the tax reported on the return, along with additions to tax, pursuant to section 6651(a)(1) and (2), of $2,618.10 for late filing and $581.80 for late payment.

Petitioner then submitted a request to respondent to abate the assessments of 2002 additions to tax based on reasonable cause. Petitioner argued that the additions to tax for his late filing should be abated because his accountant, who possessed petitioner’s tax documents, was hospitalized with stomach cancer at the time petitioner’s taxes were due. Petitioner’s request was ultimately assigned to an Appeals officer. The Appeals officer reviewed the circumstances of the late filing, including correspondence from petitioner as well as petitioner’s employer, and declined to abate the additions to tax. The Appeals officer then sent petitioner a letter indicating that his appeal had been denied. On May 28, 2005, respondent issued to petitioner Letter 1058, Final Notice, Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing, advising petitioner that respondent intended to levy on petitioner’s property to collect the unpaid liability for tax year 2002.

Thereafter, petitioner timely submitted Form 12153, Request for a Collection Due Process Hearing, on June 15, 2005. In his Form 12153, petitioner again requested an abatement of the late filing and late payment additions to tax assessed for tax year 2002. Petitioner continued to argue that his late filing be excused because of his accountant’s illness.

Petitioner’s case was then assigned to a settlement officer for a collection review hearing. The settlement officer reviewed the administrative file and determined that petitioner’s request for an abatement of the late filing and late payment additions to tax had already been considered by Appeals. Thus, the settlement officer determined that petitioner’s underlying liability could not be raised properly again in his collection review hearing. Petitioner did not raise any additional issues with respect to the levy notice.

On March 3, 2006, respondent issued to petitioner a Notice of Determination Concerning Collection Action(s) under Section 6320 and/or 6330. In response to the notice of determination, petitioner filed a petition with this Court on March 30, 2006. The only question raised in the petition is whether there is reasonable cause to abate the additions to tax imposed by respondent under section 6651(a)(1) and (2) for late filing and late payment.

Discussion

I. Section 301.6330-l(e)(3), Q&A — E2, Proced. & Admin. Regs.

Respondent argues that pursuant to section 6330(c)(2)(B) and section 301.6330-l(e)(3), Q&A-E2, Proced. & Admin. Regs., where a taxpayer has an opportunity for a conference with respondent’s Appeals Office before a collection action has begun,2 then the amount and existence of the underlying tax liability can neither be raised properly in a collection review hearing nor on appeal to this Court. Thus, respondent argues for summary judgment on the ground that petitioner’s participation in a conference with the Appeals Office to consider his request for abatement of additions to tax precluded him from raising his underlying liability in his collection review hearing or in this Court.

We have previously held that where a taxpayer filed amended returns and was provided with an opportunity for a hearing with respondent’s Appeals Office, the taxpayer was not entitled to challenge the underlying liability in a subsequent collection review proceeding. Farley v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2004-168 (noting that the taxpayer still had the opportunity to seek judicial review by paying the tax and filing suit for a refund in District Court); see also Bailey v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2005-241 (while acknowledging that the taxpayer had not challenged the validity of section 301.6330-l(e)(3), Q&A-E2, Proced. & Admin. Regs., noting that the taxpayer was afforded several opportunities to dispute his tax liability administratively). We have also previously held, in a Court-reviewed Opinion, that a taxpayer who has self-assessed a liability has not had the opportunity to dispute his tax liability and may raise the underlying liability in a collection review proceeding. See Montgomery v. Commissioner, 122 T.C. 1, 9 (2004) (noting that the taxpayers had not had “an opportunity to ‘dispute’ their tax liability * * * in any sense of the term”). Finally, while it is not binding on this Court, we note that many District Courts have held that a taxpayer is precluded from raising the underlying liability where he was provided with an opportunity for a conference with Appeals. See, e.g., Abu-Awad v. United States, 294 F. Supp. 2d 879 (S.D. Tex. 2003) (finding penalty abatement request was sufficient opportunity to dispute underlying tax liability for purposes of section 6330(c)(2)(B)); Pelliccio v. United States, 253 F. Supp. 2d 258 (D. Conn. 2003) (holding that a taxpayer who was notified of his liability and offered an opportunity for an Appeals hearing, could not dispute the liability again in a collection review hearing).

We have not, however, previously addressed the validity of section 301.6330-l(e)(3), Q&A-E2, Proced. & Admin. Regs., and must do so in order to resolve respondent’s summary judgment motion. We begin our analysis with the statutory language.

Section 6330 was enacted as part of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, Pub. L. 105-206, sec. 3401, 112 Stat. 746 (the Restructuring and Reform Act). Section 6330 generally provides that the Commissioner cannot proceed with the collection of a person’s taxes by levy until the person has been given notice and the opportunity for an administrative review of the matter (in the form of an Appeals Office hearing) and, if dissatisfied, with judicial review of the administrative determination. See Davis v. Commissioner, 115 T.C. 35, 37 (2000); Goza v. Commissioner, 114 T.C.

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Lewis v. Comm'r, 128 T.C. No. 6, 128 T.C. 48, 2007 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 5 (tax 2007).

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