Romano v. Commissioner

101 T.C. No. 35, 101 T.C. 530, 1993 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 78
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedDecember 13, 1993
DocketDocket No. 621-85
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 101 T.C. No. 35 (Romano 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
Romano v. Commissioner, 101 T.C. No. 35, 101 T.C. 530, 1993 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 78 (tax 1993).

Opinion

OPINION

Wells, Judge:

The instant case is before us on respondent’s motion for summary judgment1 and motion to impose damages under section 6673. Respondent determined a deficiency in petitioner’s Federal income tax as follows:

Additions to tax
Year Deficiency Sec. 6653(a)(1) Sec. 6653(a)(2)
1983 $191,895.19 $9,594.76 1

Unless otherwise indicated, all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect for the year in issue, and all Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.

At the time he filed the petition in the instant case, petitioner resided in New York, New York. On November 17, 1983, as petitioner and his wife were attempting to enter Canada from the United States, U.S. Customs agents discovered and seized $359,500 in U.S. currency from petitioner.

On the same day, upon being informed of the seizure, respondent issued a termination assessment against petitioner for $169,981. On October 11, 1984, after petitioner failed to file a Federal income tax return for his 1983 taxable year, respondent issued petitioner a statutory notice of deficiency for petitioner’s 1983 taxable year, encompassing the 1983 calendar year through December 31, 1983. Respondent’s motion states that the statutory notice erroneously refers to a “jeopardy assessment” instead of a “termination assessment”. Such assessment is hereinafter referred to as the termination assessment. The notice of deficiency included as income the amount calculated under the termination assessment and estimated amounts for wages and salary, interest income, and cost of living. Respondent’s motion states that, if res judicata applies in the instant case, then respondent concedes that the estimated wages and salary, interest income, and cost of living items determined in the notice of deficiency are not includable in petitioner’s gross income for his 1983 taxable year.

On January 9, 1985, petitioner filed his petition in the instant case. Subsequently, proceedings were held in abeyance pending a criminal tax evasion charge that was being prosecuted against petitioner and the forfeiture proceeding described below, seeking forfeiture of the $359,500 in seized funds.

Meanwhile, during November 1989, when the statute of limitations on assessment and collection of the 1983 termination assessment was about to expire, the United States filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York seeking to reduce the termination assessment to judgment pursuant to section 7402(a). On December 19, 1990, the District Court granted summary judgment in favor of the United States in the amount of $169,981 plus statutory interest, as allowed by law, for taxes owed pursuant to the termination assessment.

Petitioner appealed the District Court judgment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on the ground that the District Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction due to the pending Tax Court proceeding. On May 6, 1992, the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the District Court, holding that the Tax Court and U.S. District Courts have concurrent jurisdiction to determine a taxpayer’s income tax liability pursuant to section 7402(a). On October 5, 1992, the Supreme Court denied petitioner’s petition for a writ of cer-tiorari.

Separately, a forfeiture case was proceeding in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York with respect to the $359,500 in cash seized from petitioner by the U.S. Customs agents on November 17, 1983. United States v. $359,500 in United States Currency, 645 F. Supp. 638 (W.D.N.Y. 1986), revd. and remanded 828 F.2d 930 (2d Cir. 1987) (the forfeiture case). In the forfeiture case, the District Court held that a civil forfeiture, based on a failure to declare currency prior to transporting it out of the country, requires that the owner of the currency have actual knowledge of an obligation to report the currency. The District Court held that even if the statute does not require actual knowledge, some notice must be provided as a matter of due process, and because it was undisputed that no signs or other form of notice existed, the owner could not be deprived of the currency. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that actual knowledge of an obligation to report the currency was not required. Additionally, the Court of Appeals remanded the forfeiture case for a decision as to whether the notice required by due process could be satisfied by charging petitioner with constructive knowledge of an obligation to report. Petitioner’s response to the instant motion states that the District Court has not, as of filing his response, decided such issue.

Rule 121(b) provides that summary judgment may be rendered if the pleadings and admissions show that no genuine issue exists as to any material fact and that a decision may be rendered as a matter of law. Naftel v. Commissioner, 85 T.C. 527, 529 (1985). The moving party bears the burden of proving that no genuine issue of material fact exists. Marshall v. Commissioner, 85 T.C. 267, 271 (1985). The facts are viewed in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Jacklin v. Commissioner, 79 T.C. 340, 344 (1982).

Respondent contends that the doctrine of res judicata prevents petitioner from contesting his Federal income tax liability for his 1983 taxable year. Respondent contends that res judicata applies in the instant case because the District Court decided, on the merits, that petitioner is liable for income taxes for taxable year 1983 in the amount of $169,981 plus statutory interest as allowed by law. Petitioner argues that the District Court decision is not res judicata because the Tax Court’s jurisdiction to determine a deficiency in the instant case would be usurped and that a decision prior to the conclusion of the forfeiture case would be a duplicative use of judicial resources.

The doctrine of res judicata is founded in the public policy that litigation must end and that the result should bind those who have contested the issue. Shaheen v. Commissioner, 62 T.C. 359, 363 (1974). Generally, res judicata applies to repetitious suits involving the same cause of action. Commissioner v. Sunnen, 333 U.S. 591, 597 (1948). The rule of res judicata provides:

that when a court of competent jurisdiction has entered a final judgment on the merits of a cause of action, the parties to the suit and their privies are thereafter bound “not only as to every matter which was offered and received to sustain or defeat the claim or demand, but as to any other admissible matter which might have been offered for that purpose.” The judgment puts an end to the cause of action, which cannot again be brought into litigation between the parties upon any ground whatever, absent fraud or some other factor invalidating the judgment. [Commissioner v. Sunnen, 333 U.S. 591, 597 (1948); citations omitted.]

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Related

Romano v. Commissioner
1995 T.C. Memo. 324 (U.S. Tax Court, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
101 T.C. No. 35, 101 T.C. 530, 1993 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 78, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/romano-v-commissioner-tax-1993.