Nilsen v. Massachusetts Department of Revenue (In re Nilsen)

542 B.R. 640, 2015 WL 8970730, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 4247, 116 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 7026
United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts·Decided December 14, 2015·No. Case No. 15-11034-JNF; Adv. P. No. 15-1122·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

Joan N. Feeney, United States Bankruptcy Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

The matters before the Court are the Motion of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue for Judgment on the Pleadings and the Motion of the United States of America1 for Judgment on the [642] Pleadings and, in the Alternative, Summary Judgment (together, the “Motions”) with respect to the three count Complaint, captioned “Complaint to Determine Dis-chargeability of Debts,” filed by the Debt- or, Johan K. Nilsen (the “Debtor”). Through his Complaint, the Debtor seeks a determination that taxes, penalties and interest owed by him for tax years 2000-2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010 to the Defendants are not excepted from discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1)(A), (B) or (C). Consistent with the relief sought in his Complaint, the Debtor opposes the Motions filed by the state and federal taxing authorities. The Court heard the Motions on October 30, 2015; treated both as motions for summary judgment due to the need to consider matters outside the pleadings pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(d), made applicable to this proceeding by Fed. R. Bankr.P. 7012(b); directed the Debtor to file a supplemental affidavit; and took the matters under advisement.

The issue presented is whether the Debtor’s late filed IRS Form 1040s and Massachusetts Form Is for the above tax years constitute “equivalent reports,” such that the taxes are not excepted from discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1)(B). The material facts necessary to decide these matters are not in dispute, and the matter is ripe for summary judgment. The Court now makes its findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Fed. R. Bankr.P. 7052.

II. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Debtor owes the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (the “MDOR”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) amounts for unpaid income taxes, penalties and interest for the years 2000-2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010 (the “Periods at Issue”). For each of the Periods at Issue, the Debt- or was required to file tax returns with the MDOR and the IRS on or before April 15th of the year following each of the years in the Periods at Issue, or by the deadline pursuant to any allowed extensions. No extensions of the time to file the returns were applied for or approved. The Debtor failed to timely file such returns but instead filed on August 23, 2010 a “Form 1040” (“Form 1040”) with the IRS and a “Form 1” (“Form 1”) with the MDOR for each of the Periods at Issue, except for the year 2010. For the year 2010, the Debtor filed the same forms with the taxing authorities on or before March 12, 2012.2

More than two years after these submissions, on March 20, 2015, the Debtor filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code, and the U.S. trustee appointed a Chapter 7 Trustee. On Schedule F — Creditors Holding Unsecured Nonpriority Claims, the Debtor listed the IRS as the holder of a claim in the amount of $217,529 for “income taxes 2000-2010” and the MDOR as the holder of a claim in the amount of $28,434 for income taxes for the same time period. On April 23, 2015, the Chapter 7 Trustee filed a Report of No Distribution, and, on June 29, 2015, the Debtor received a discharge of all dis-chargeable debts pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 727.

On June 29, 2015, the Debtor filed the Complaint seeking a determination of the dischargeability of the Debtor’s income tax for the Periods at Issue pursuant to 11 [643] U.S.C. § 523(a)(1). The Debtor formulated three counts as follows: Count I (11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1)(A)); Count II (11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1)(B)); and Count III (11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1)(C)). The MDOR filed an Answer on July 3, 2015 and filed its Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings on August 3, 2015, which the Debtor opposed on September 3, 2015. The United States filed an Answer on September 1, 2015 and filed its Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and, in the Alternative, Summary Judgment on September 15, 2015. It supported its Motion with a statement of material facts pursuant to LR., D. Mass. 56.1, as adopted by Massachusetts Local Bankruptcy Rule 7056-1, and the Declaration of Catherine Staskin, an IRS Insolvency Specialist. The Debtor filed his Objection to that Motion on October 15, 2015.

As stated above, the Court heard both Motions on October 30, 2015 and, in the absence of any objections by the parties, treated them as motions for summary judgment due to the Court’s direction that the Debtor file copies of the submissions he made to the MDOR and the IRS for the Periods at Issue. Following the hearing, the Debtor filed an Affidavit to which he attached copies of the Form Is and Form 1040s he submitted to the taxing authorities for the Periods at Issue. Notably, the Form 1040 is entitled “U.S. Individual Income Tax Return,” and the Form 1 is entitled “Massachusetts Resident Income Tax Return.” On November 11, 2015, the MDOR filed a response to the Debtor’s Objection to its Motion.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Summary Judgment Standard

The summary judgment standard requires little explication in the context of this adversary proceeding, particularly where the material facts are not in dispute. In Weiss v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (In re Kelley), 498 B.R. 392 (1st Cir. BAP 2013), the United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the First Circuit stated:

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Nilsen v. Massachusetts Department of Revenue (In re Nilsen), 542 B.R. 640, 2015 WL 8970730, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 4247, 116 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 7026 (Mass. 2015).

542 B.R. 640 (Nilsen v. Massachusetts Department of Revenue (In re Nilsen)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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