Nevius v. Commissioner

694 F. App'x 447

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: July 27, 2017
• Docket: 16-3255
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Bryon Nevius appeals a decision of the tax court, 1 which dismissed his petition challenging a notice of deficiency issued by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and upheld the assessments set forth in the notice of deficiency. The Commissioner urges affirmance, and has moved for sanctions on appeal. Having jurisdiction under 26 U.S.C. § 7482(a)(1), this court affirms.

After careful review, this court concludes that the tax court properly dismissed the petition, as courts have repeatedly rejected Nevius’s boilerplate tax-protester arguments. See Campbell v. Comm’r, 164 F.3d 1140, 1142 (8th Cir. 1999) (standards of review for tax court decisions); Shenker v. Comm’r, 804 F.2d 109, 114 n. 6 (8th Cir. 1986) (courts have uniformly upheld the constitutionality of the tax court); United States v. Jagim, 978 F.2d 1032, 1036 (8th Cir. 1992) (rejecting defendant’s argument—that he was citizen of Republic of Idaho, and therefore not subject to federal income tax—as “completely without merit, [and] patently frivolous”).

Finally, this court may award “just damages” and single or double costs if it determines that an appeal is frivolous. 28 U.S.C. § 1912; Fed. R. App. P. 38. In this case, sanctions are appropriate. See United States v. Gerads, 999 F.2d 1255, 1256-57 (8th Cir. 1993) (per curiam) (rejecting the argument that “Free Citizens of the Republic of Minnesota” were not subject to taxation; granting government’s motion for sanctions for frivolous appeal).

The judgment is affirmed, and this court grants the Commissioner’s motion for sanctions in the amount of $5,000.

1 . The Honorable Michael B. Thornton, Chief Judge, United States Tax Court.