United States v. Major

551 B.R. 531, 117 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1869, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84576, 2016 WL 3211768
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedMay 10, 2016
DocketCase No: 8:14-cv-2309-T-17AEP
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 551 B.R. 531 (United States v. Major) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Major, 551 B.R. 531, 117 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1869, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84576, 2016 WL 3211768 (M.D. Fla. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING GOVERNMENT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

ELIZABETH A. KOVACHEVICH, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This cause came before the Court pursuant to the Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 35) (the “Motion”) and the Supplemental Declaration of Daisy Montanez (Doc, No. 38) (the “Supplement”) filed by the Plaintiff, the United States of America (the “Plaintiff’ or “Government”), the responses (Doc. No. 36, 37, 41, & 42) (the “Responses”) filed by the Defendants, Gary J. Major (“Major”) and Nancy Major (the “Defendants”), and the reply (Doc. No. 45) (the “Reply”) filed by the Government. For the reasons set forth below, the Motion is GRANTED.

I. Introduction

This case arises out Major’s decision, in the mid-1990s, to transfer substantially all of his assets into various trusts, and to stop filing federal income tax returns or paying taxes on his business income. Major claims to have made those decisions based on advice he received from an attorney named Paul Emerson. Specifically, Major claims that Mr. Emerson advised him that so long as his assets remained in trust, he had no obligation to file federal income tax returns, or to pay federal income tax on his business income.

Approximately ten years later, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) began investigating Major for engaging in a tax avoidance scheme.. While Major initially refused to cooperate with the IRS’ investigation, he ultimately acquiesced and late-filed tax returns for the years of 2001 through 2006 on February 5, 2008. The late-filed tax returns reflected an outstanding balance attributable to income earned by Major’s computer repair business, Doctor Computer, during the referenced time-frame. The IRS subsequently reviewed Major’s late-filed returns, and determined that Major had understated his income from Doctor Computer. Major responded by petitioning the United States Tax Court to re-determine the amount of the proposed deficiency, and ultimately stipulated to an agreed 'deficiency of approximately $87,140.00, plus interest, penalties, and other amounts.

Rather than pay the deficiencies reflected in the late-filed returns (and later stipulated to in the Tax Court), Major [535]*535withdrew approximately $80,000.00 from his trusts and purchased four $20,000.00 cashier’s checks. Shortly thereafter, Major then recorded a deed purporting to transfer his interest in his home (the “Sarasota Property”) to him and his wife as tenants by the entirety. Later, after the IRS commenced this action to foreclose its tax lien, Major filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. The only creditor listed in Major’s bankruptcy schedules was the IRS.

With this background in mind, the issues raised by the Motion and Responses are whether: (1) the tax assessments established by the decision of the Tax Court are valid; (2) if so, whether Major’s tax obligations were discharged in his Chapter 7 bankruptcy case; (3) if not, whether the Government is entitled to foreclose its outstanding tax liens against Major’s property, including his interest in the Sarasota Property; and (4) if so, whether Major’s purported transfer of the Sarasota Property to him and his wife as tenants by the entirety is avoidable as a fraudulent transfer. Having reviewed the undisputed facts and record evidence, the Court believes there are no genuine issues of fact that preclude summary judgment as to each of the foregoing issues. Even drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of Major, the undisputed facts and record evidence demonstrate that (1) Major owes $162,063.21 in outstanding taxes for the years of 2002 through 2006; (2) Major has willfully attempted to avoid or defeat paying his outstanding tax obligations, such that his debt for unpaid taxes was not discharged in his Chapter 7 bankruptcy case; and (3) Major’s transfer of the Sarasota Property to him and his wife as tenants by the entirety is avoidable as a fraudulent transfer. As a result, the Government is entitled to summary judgment on Counts I and II of the Complaint, and to foreclose its tax liens on Major’s property.

II. Background

The Plaintiff commenced this case on September 15, 2014 by filing a Complaint (Doc. No. 1) (the “Complaint”) against the Defendants. Through the Complaint, the Plaintiff seeks to reduce the tax liabilities owed by Major, for the years of 2001 through 2006 to judgment, and to foreclose federal tax liens against Major’s property. The Defendants filed an Answer to Complaint (Doc. No. 7) (the “Answer”) on November 14, 2014.

On January 30, 2015, Major filed a Suggestion of Bankruptcy (Doc. No. 13). Thereafter, on April 20, 2015, the Plaintiff notified the Court that the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida (the “Bankruptcy Court”) had entered an Order Granting Motion to Lift Stay (Doc. No. 17), whereby the Bankruptcy Court authorized the parties to “proceed to an adjudication of all counts raised by the [Plaintiffs] Complaint ... including any defenses available to [Major] pertaining to the dischargeability of his federal income tax liabilities.”

On January 15, 2016, Plaintiff filed the Motion, and on February 22, 2016, the Supplement. Through the Motion and Supplement, the Plaintiff contends that, as a matter of law, Major owes $162,063.21 in unpaid income tax liabilities and related interest, and that the Government is entitled to foreclose on Major’s property.

On February 3 and April 1, 2016, Major filed the Responses, through which he argues that (1) the stipulated decision of the Tax Court should be set aside because he signed it under duress, (2) any outstanding taxes were discharged in his Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, and (3) he received consideration in exchange for the transfer of the Sarasota Property to him and his wife as tenants by the entirety in the form of [536]*536contributions and work his wife provided to him over the course of their marriage. The Government filed the Reply on April 12, 2016.

III. Legal Standard

Summary judgment is proper “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the ' movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). “The Court must view the evidence and the inferences from that evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.” Stein v. Ala. Sec. of State, 774 F.3d 689, 692 (11th Cir.2014). “The party moving for summary judgment always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion.” Id. (internal quotations omitted). “This responsibility includes identifying the portions of the record illustrating the absence of a genuine dispute of material fact.” Id. “A genuine dispute of material, fact exists when the nonmoving party produces evidence allowing a reasonable fact-finder to return a verdict in its favor.” Id. “If the movant meets its evidentiary burden, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to establish — with evidence beyond the pleadings — that a genuine dispute material to each of its claims for relief exists.” Id.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, pro se

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551 B.R. 531, 117 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1869, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84576, 2016 WL 3211768, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-major-flmd-2016.