McWilliams v. Commissioner

103 T.C. No. 22, 103 T.C. 416, 1994 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 72
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedAugust 30, 1994
DocketDocket No. 4651-92
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 103 T.C. No. 22 (McWilliams 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
McWilliams v. Commissioner, 103 T.C. No. 22, 103 T.C. 416, 1994 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 72 (tax 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

Parr, Judge:

This matter is before the Court on petitioner’s motion for review of jeopardy assessment and levy filed August 11, 1994, pursuant to Rule 56.1 This case was tried in El Paso, Texas, in November 1993.2

In the notice of deficiency respondent determined the following deficiencies in and additions to petitioner’s Federal income taxes:

Additions to tax
Sec. Sec. Sec. Year Deficiency 6653(b)(1) 6653(b)(1)(A) 6653(b)(1)(B) Sec. 6661(a)
1986 $58,761 $44,071 $14,690
1987 43,247 32,435 10,812
1988 156,393 $117,295 39,098

At trial, the parties made a number of concessions that dramatically reduce the deficiency amounts and additions to tax, including respondent’s concession that petitioner is not liable for additions to tax due to fraud. Those concessions are not reflected in the amount assessed. Respondent continues to assert the alternative position that petitioner is liable for additions to tax due to negligence.

When the petition was filed in this case, petitioner resided in New Mexico.

On July, 1, 1994, petitioner sold real property located in Dona Ana County, New Mexico, for $280,000. Petitioner’s home had been listed openly with a registered real estate agent for 6 months prior to sale. The proceeds of the sale were disbursed as follows: $41,496.58 to pay off the previously existing mortgage on the property; $20,837.25 for real estate commissions; $32,500 to establish an escrow to be used to pay the disputed Federal income taxes in this case in compliance with a preexisting divorce agreement; $3,370.11 for miscellaneous expenses: title insurance, escrow fees, taxes, etc.; and petitioner received a check for $81,796.06 and took back a second mortgage for $100,000. At the closing petitioner was issued a substitute Form 1099 indicating that he had sold the property for $280,000 and reflecting petitioner’s New Mexico post office box address.

Sometime between July 1, 1994, and July 11, 1994, petitioner, accompanied by 16 individuals, moved from Mesquite, New Mexico, to Vancouver, Washington. Petitioner notified the U.S. Postal Service of his new address. We do not know the exact date petitioner notified the Postal Service, but petitioner supplied a copy of an envelope from the New Mexico bank on which the $81,796.06 check was drawn. The envelope had a Postal Service postmark dated July 11, 1994, and had a Postal Service change of address label affixed to the envelope. For this reason, we know the new address was supplied to the New Mexico Postal Service on or before July 11, 1994.

In a notice dated July 8, 1994, respondent, under authority of section 6861, mailed a notice to petitioner3 to inform him that he was the subject of a jeopardy assessment. The notice was mailed to petitioner at his New Mexico address by certified mail. Postal Service personnel affixed an address label to the envelope indicating petitioner’s new mailing address in Vancouver, Washington. The jeopardy assessment assessed taxes and additions to tax as follows:

Taxable year Tax Additions to tax
$58,761 $58,761 1986
43,247 43,247 1987
156,393 156,393 1988

Petitioner, on July 11, 1994, deposited the check from the sale of the New Mexico property into a bank account at the Bank of Washington, in Washington State. A letter dated July 18, 1994, from the Bank of Washington, notified petitioner that payment had been stopped on the $81,796.06 check.

In a letter to respondent dated July 21, 1994 (which petitioner indicated was mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested), petitioner through counsel requested an administrative review of the jeopardy assessment by the District Director at Albuquerque, New Mexico, in accordance with section 7429(a)(2). In this document, petitioner provided respondent with his new address. In the review request, petitioner asserted that the making of the jeopardy assessment and levy was not reasonable under the circumstances because none of the required elements of a jeopardy assessment and levy existed; thus respondent was in error. Petitioner also asserted that the amount assessed and collected by respondent was inappropriate.

In a letter dated July 27, 1994, respondent’s Appeals officer confirmed the parties’ telephone conversation of that date and notified petitioner that the Appeals officer would recommend that the jeopardy assessment should not be abated. The Appeals officer stated that he believes the proposed deficiency is in danger of not being collected on the basis that petitioner’s property may be dissipated, or that petitioner’s financial condition appears to be imperiled, citing section 1.6851 — l(a)(l)(ii) and (iii), Income Tax Regs. However, the Appeals officer did include a downward revision of the income tax liability in light of the trial stipulations and concessions. Assuming the IRS would win on all remaining disputed issues, he computed a revised tax liability, exclusive of additions to tax and interest, of $234,734.

In a letter dated August 3, 1994, respondent’s Associate Chief of the Appeals Office of the Southwest Region indicated that he had reviewed the District Director’s determination and sustained the jeopardy assessment determination, with the provision that the assessment would be adjusted to take into consideration the stipulations and concessions previously agreed to by the parties. In a letter dated August 4, 1994, petitioner asked for a reconsideration of the Appeals officer’s determination.

On August 11, 1994, petitioner filed a motion for review of the jeopardy assessment and levy with this Court pursuant to Rule 56. We have jurisdiction to review the assessment and to abate such assessment, redetermine the amount assessed, or take other appropriate action. Sec. 7429(b)(2)(B), (4).4 This is a case of first impression for our Court.

On August 22, 1994, respondent timely filed her response to petitioner’s motion for review of jeopardy assessment. Respondent’s response is due 10 days following petitioner’s initial motion; however August 21, 1994, was a Sunday, and thus respondent’s August 22, 1994, filing is timely. Rules 25(a)(2), 56(d).

With her response, respondent specifically answered each of petitioner’s allegations and included seven affidavits from individuals to support the jeopardy assessment and levy. The affidavits contain statements that show that on July 5, 1994, the revenue agent (hereinafter RA) who audited petitioner’s 1986, 1987, and 1988 Federal income tax returns learned that petitioner had sold his New Mexico property on July 1, 1994. The RA also gathered information that could have led her to believe that petitioner was moving to Washington, Oregon, or Canada. Respondent alleges that the information contained in the affidavits creates a reasonable inference that collection of the deficiency (if respondent is ultimately successful in the pending case) is in jeopardy.

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McWilliams v. Commissioner
103 T.C. No. 22 (U.S. Tax Court, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
103 T.C. No. 22, 103 T.C. 416, 1994 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 72, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcwilliams-v-commissioner-tax-1994.