United States v. Price (In re Price)

231 B.R. 608, 84 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5856, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14555
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedAugust 19, 1998
DocketCiv. A. No. H-98-0558; Bankruptcy No. 96-50756-H2-7; Adversary No. 97-4077
StatusPublished

This text of 231 B.R. 608 (United States v. Price (In re Price)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Price (In re Price), 231 B.R. 608, 84 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5856, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14555 (S.D. Tex. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ATLAS, District Judge.

In this appeal from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Adversary No. 97-4077, Appellant United States of America, Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) contends that the Bankruptcy Court erred in discharging the 1992 tax debt of Appellees Kenneth Warren and Cay Denise Price (“the debtors”).1 The Court has considered the parties’ briefs, the Bankruptcy Court record, all other matters filed in this case, and the relevant authorities. For the reasons stated below, the Court will remand this case to the Bankruptcy Court for further factual findings regarding whether or not equitable tolling is warranted under the applicable provision of the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. § 105(a)(a).

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The facts specifically pertinent to this appeal are as follows. For the taxable year 1992, the debtors reported an adjusted gross income in the amount of $213,547.00. In May 1993, the IRS assessed unpaid income taxes and penalties for the 1992 tax year against the debtors in the amount of $46,-629.00. In June 1993, the IRS and the debtors entered into an installment agreement for payment of the debtors’ taxes for the years 1990, 1991, and 1992. There appears to be a disagreement in the current record regarding the terms of that agreement.

In December 1993, the IRS notified the debtors that they were in default of the installment agreement. In June 1994, the debtor-husband filed a bankruptcy petition under Chapter 11 in Case No. 94-43860. That bankruptcy case was dismissed in May 1995 without a plan of reorganization ever being confirmed. The IRS asserts that it took various measures to collect the debtors’ 1992 tax debt before and after the period that the 1994 bankruptcy case was pending. The IRS, however, did nothing during the time that bankruptcy case was open.

On November 19, 1996, an IRS revenue officer served a notice of levy on the debtor-wife’s wages to collect the debtors’ unpaid tax liabilities. The next day, November 20, 1996, the debtors filed the current bankruptcy case, which was assigned to the Honorable Bankruptcy Judge Wesley Steen. The debtors argued that their tax debt was discharge-able because the tax collection priority periods provided for in 11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(8) had already elapsed. The IRS argued, on the other hand, that it was entitled to tolling of the priority periods during the time that the debtor-husband had been under the protection of the bankruptcy laws while his 1994 bankruptcy case was pending and for six months thereafter.

On January 16,1998, Honorable Bankruptcy Judge William Greendyke entered a judgment in the current adversary action declaring the debtors’ 1992 tax debt, as well as their tax debt for 1990 and 1991, to be dis-chargeable. See Adversary Proceeding Judgment [Bey. Doc. # 18 Adv. # 97-04077], ¶ 5. The Bankruptcy Court noted that, unlike other Courts of Appeals, the Fifth Circuit prohibits the use of 11 U.S.C. § 108(c) to allow prior bankruptcy proceedings to toll the priority periods provided for in 11 U.S.C. [610]*610§ 507(a)(8). See Matter of Quenzer, 19 F.3d 163 (5th Cir.1993).2 The Bankruptcy Court also noted, however, that 11 U.S.C. § 105(a)3 could be used to allow such tolling where equitable circumstances warrant such relief. Without elaboration, the Bankruptcy Court simply held that:

[T]he factual circumstances and/or equitable considerations in this case do not warrant such an equitable use of section 105(a). The Court finds that the IRS had sufficient time to pursue the tax debt (983 days).

Adversary Proceeding Judgment, ¶ 4.

In this appeal, the IRS argues that the Bankruptcy Court erred in failing to allow equitable tolling under 11 U.S.C. § 105(a). In support of this argument, the IRS contends that it diligently pursued collection of the debtors’ tax liability while they were not under the protection of the bankruptcy laws; that it should not be penalized for not pursuing collection more aggressively but instead for working with the debtors and trusting that they would make good faith efforts to satisfy their liability pursuant to the installment agreement; that, because of the debt- or-husband’s 1994 bankruptcy case, the IRS did not have the amount of time to collect the debtors’ 1992 tax liability envisioned by Congress; and that, notwithstanding the Fifth Circuit’s holding that 11 U.S.C. § 108(c) cannot be used to toll priority periods during bankruptcy proceedings, the IRS should receive equitable tolling under 11 U.S.C. § 105(a) in order to close a “loophole” that would otherwise result and would allow tax evaders to avoid liability through filing successive bankruptcy petitions. The IRS cites numerous cases, many from other circuits, in which courts have allowed tolling for the IRS and compares the facts of those cases to the facts presented here.

In response, the debtors paint a different picture of this dispute. They allege facts tending show that they made good faith efforts to fulfill their tax obligations, which they claim arose largely as the result of an unexpected capital gain; that they were unaware that the installment agreement they entered into with the IRS would require a balloon payment after several installments and that they were unable to make such a payment; that they were forced to sell all of their valuable assets in order to satisfy their creditors, including their car and house; that they attempted to sell their house in order to pay their tax liability but that, before it could be sold, their bank foreclosed on the house and they lost their equity in it; that they are not serial bankruptcy filers merely because the debtor-husband filed one previous bankruptcy petition, but that the only reason they were unable to resolve their debt problems through that earlier case was that their mortgagor would not approve the proposed reorganization plan; that they properly invoked the bankruptcy laws in order to relieve themselves of their unmanageable tax liability; and that the IRS is not entitled to equitable tolling in this case because it had ample opportunity to pursue collection of their tax debt while they were not in bankruptcy but [611]*611that the IRS failed to pursue collection of the obligation diligently.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

When reviewing a bankruptcy court’s decision, a district court functions as an appellate court and applies the standard of review generally applied in federal courts of appeals. See Matter of Crowell, 138 F.3d 1031, 1033 (5th Cir.1998);

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231 B.R. 608, 84 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5856, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-price-in-re-price-txsd-1998.