Shisler v. United States

199 F.3d 848, 1999 WL 1256185
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedDecember 28, 1999
DocketNo. 99-3027
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 199 F.3d 848 (Shisler v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shisler v. United States, 199 F.3d 848, 1999 WL 1256185 (6th Cir. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

CONTIE, Circuit Judge.

Petitioners-appellants, Douglas Shisler, et al., appeal the judgment of the district court, dismissing their petition to quash IRS summonses to third-party recordkeep-ers because the petition was untimely filed. For the following reasons, we affirm.

I. Facts

The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), pursuant to an income tax investigation of petitioner Shisler and several trusts of which he is the trustee (“petitioners”), served third-party recordkeeper summonses on Bank One and Key Bank on May 7, 1998, requesting various records pertaining to petitioners for the period January 1, 1995, through the date of the summonses. On May 8, 1998, the IRS served additional summonses on National City Bank and Chippewa Valley Bank pertaining to petitioners for the same tax periods. On the same dates that the summonses were served on the third-party banks (May 7, 1998 and May 8, 1998), the IRS mailed to petitioners by certified mail notices of these summonses and an explanation of their right to file a petition to quash the summonses within twenty days.

On May 80,1998, petitioners filed a petition to quash the summonses in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. The petition was filed twenty-three days after notice of the Bank One and Key Bank summonses was sent to petitioners by certified mail and twenty-two days after notice of the National City Bank and Chippewa Valley Bank summonses was sent to them by certified mail.

The United States filed a motion to dismiss the petition to quash on the ground that the district court lacked jurisdiction. The United States argued that petitioners failed to file their petition to quash within the twenty-day period after being notified, as specified in 26 U.S.C. § 7609(b)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code, and therefore they had not complied with the terms of the United States’ consent to be sued in regard to the summonses. The United States argued that the district court therefore lacked jurisdiction, and the case must be dismissed.

Petitioners filed a response to the motion to dismiss. They argued that equitable tolling applied because the dates on which they were given notice of the summonses were nebulous. They also argued that, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 6(e), they were entitled to an additional three days in which to file their petition to quash because notice of the summonses had been sent to them by United States mail. They argued because they filed their petition to quash within twenty-three days after being notified, their petition was timely filed.

On October 1, 1998, petitioners submitted supplemental exhibits containing copies of the certified mail receipts, indicating the dates on which notices of the summonses had been mailed to them by the IRS. Receipts for the certified mail showed that notices of the summonses had been mailed to petitioners on May 7, 1998 and May 8, 1998, respectively. In addition, following a non-evidentiary hearing held on October 8, 1998, the United States, at the district court’s request, submitted a declaration of a revenue agent, verifying that the notices had been mailed to peti[850]*850tioners by certified mail on either May 7, 1998 or May 8, 1998, as indicated by the certificate on the reverse side of each summons.

On November 9, 1998, the district court granted the United States’ motion to dismiss the petition to quash. The court stated that the twenty-day limitation period of section 7609(b)(2)(A) was a jurisdictional limitation which served as a conditional waiver of the United States’ sovereign immunity. The court held that a district court did not have jurisdiction over a petition to quash if the petitioner failed to comply with the twenty-day filing period of section 7609(b)(2)(A). Since petitioners had filed their petition on either the twenty-second or twenty-third day after the respective notices of summonses had been mailed to them, they did not meet the twenty-day filing requirement. Therefore, the district court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the petition to quash. Petitioners then filed this timely appeal.

II. Legal Background Regarding Summons to Third-Party Recordkeepers

Section 7609 of the Internal Revenue Code provides a specific set of rules for IRS summons issued to “third-party re-cordkeepers,” a term that is defined to include various third parties, such as banks and credit unions, which customarily maintain records of individual or business financial transactions. 26 U.S.C. § 7609(a)(3)(A). When the IRS serves a summons on a third-party recordkeeper, it must also give notice to the person to whom the records pertain. Such notice must be accompanied by a copy of the summons which has been served on the third-party recordkeeper and must contain an explanation of the taxpayer’s right to bring a proceeding to quash the summons. 26 U.S.C. § 7609(a)(1). With regard to the timing of the notice, this subsection provides that “notice of the summons shall be given to ... [such] person ... within 3 days of the day on which such service is made [upon the third-party recordkeeper].” Id. The recipient of the notice of the summons may then file a petition to quash the summons pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7609(b)(2)(A), which states in relevant part:

In general. Notwithstanding any other law or rule of law, any person who is entitled to notice of a summons under subsection (a) shall have the right to begin a proceeding to quash such summons not later than the 20th day after the day such notice is given in the manner provided in subsection (a)(2).

Subsection (a)(2) specifies, in part, that notice is “sufficient” if it is mailed by certified or registered mail to the last known address of the person entitled to notice. Courts have determined that notice is “given in the manner provided in subsection (a)(2)” on the date on which notice is mailed to the taxpayer under investigation by certified or registered mail. Faber v. United States, 921 F.2d 1118, 1119 (10th Cir.1990); Stringer v. United States, 776 F.2d 274, 275 (11th Cir.1985). Thus, according to the statute, a taxpayer entitled to notice must begin a proceeding to quash a summons to a third-party recordkeeper within twenty days from the date on which notice of the summons and the right to file a petition to quash is mailed by certified or registered mail to him by the IRS.

III. Notice

Petitioners first argue that the United States failed to show by competent evidence that notice of the summonses and an explanation of their right to file a motion to quash was mailed to them by certified mail on the dates stated in the United States’ motion to dismiss — on May 7, 1998, and May 8, 1998.

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199 F.3d 848, 1999 WL 1256185, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shisler-v-united-states-ca6-1999.