TAX COURT OPINION

Case: Gail F. Brennan & Joseph B. Brennan, Sr.
Docket Number: 20277-08S
Judge: Colvin
Opinion Type: bench
Filed: 10/05/2009
Pages: 8

UNITED STATES TAX COUR T WASHINGTON , DC 2021 7 GAIL F . BRENNAN AND JOSEPH B . BRENNAN, SR ., Petitioners v . COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE , Respondent Docket No . 0277-08S . O R D E R Pursuant to Rule 152(b), Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure, it i s ORDERED that the,Clerk of the Court shall transmit herewith to petitioners and to respondent a copy of the pages of the transcript of the hearing of the above case before Special Trial Judge Robert N . Armen, Jr .. at Boston, Massachusetts, on September 22, 2009, containing his oral findings of fact and opinion rendered at the conclusion of the hearing . In accordance with the oral findings of fact and opinion, an Order and Decision will be entered for respondent . (Signed) Robert N . Armen, Jr. Special Trial Judg e Dated : Washington, D .C . October 5, 2009 . "SERVED OCT - 7 2009 3 Bench Opinion by Special Trial Judge Robert N . Armen, . September 22, 2009 Docket No . 20277-:08 S 3 Gail F . Brennan , & Joseph B . Brennan, Sr . v . Commissione r 4 5 I . The Court has decided to render oral findings o f 6 fact and opinion in this case , and the following represent s the Court's oral findings of fact and opinion . The ora l findings of fact and opinion shall not be relied upon as 9 precedent in any other case . 10 11 II . This proceeding was heard as a small tax cas e 12 pursuant to the provisions of Section 7463 ( f)(2) of the 13 Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended , and Rules 170 14 through 175 of the Tax Court Rules of Practice an d 15 Procedure . See and compare Rules 330 through 334 of the Ta x 16 Court Rules of Practice and Procedure . 17 III . 18 This bench opinion is made pursuant to the 19 authority granted by Section 7459(b) of the Internal Revenue 20 Code of 1986, as amended, and Rule 152 of the Tax Cour t 21 Rules of Practice and Procedure . 22 Hereinafter in this bench opinion, and unless 23 otherwise indicated , all section numbers refer to the 24 Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and all rule 25 numbers refer to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 4 1 Procedure . 2 IV . 3 Molly H . Donahue appeared on behalf of Respondent . 4 There was no appearance by or on behalf of Petitioners, nor 5 did Petitioners comply with the Court's order, dated Jul y 6 27, 2009, requiring them to file a written response to the . 7 matter at hand . 8 V . 9 This case is before the Court on Respondent' s 10 motion for summary judgment filed July 22, 2009, pursuant t o 11 Rule 121, and supplemented September .22, 2009 . 12 Petitioners resided in the State of Massachusetts 13 at the .time that the petition was filed with the Court . 14 VI . 15 The facts relevant to the disposition o f 16 Respondent's motion are as follows : 17 By notice, dated September 12, 2006, Responden t 18 determined deficiencies in Petitioners' income taxes for 1 19 2003 and 2004 . The notice was mailed to Petitioners b y 20 certified mail addressed to them at their current address . 21 The notice was not returned to Respondent by the Posta l 22 Service . 23 Petitioners did not contest Respondent's 24 deficiency determinations by filing an action for 25 redetermination with this Court . Accordingly, on February 1 Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 5 1 5, 2007, Respondent assessed the determined deficiencies, 2 together with statutory interest, and sent Petitioner s 3 notice and demand for payment . Petitioners did not pay the 4 amount owing . 5 On April 6, 2007, Respondent sent Petitioners a 6 final notice of intent to levy . In response, Petitioners 7 timely filed with Respondent a request for a collection due 8 process hearing (Form 12153) . 9 On or about June 18, 2007, while the collection 10 due process hearing was pending, Petitioners filed fo r 11 bankruptcy . As part of the bankruptcy proceeding , 12 Respondent filed a proof of claim that included Petitioners' 13 outstanding liabilities for 2003 and 2004 . Petitioners . did 14 not commence an adversary action or otherwise contest those 15 liabilities in the bankruptcy court . 16 On or about October 10, 2007, Petitioners received 17 a discharge from the bankruptcy court . However,'; as priorit y 18 claims, Petitioners' outstanding liabilities for 2003 and 19 2004 were not discharged . 20 After the bankruptcy proceeding was concluded, 21 Respondent's Appeals Office resumed consideration o f 22 Petitioners' request for a collection due process hearing . 23 Petitioners were granted audit reconsideration . Ultimately , 24 on April 28, 2008, Respondent abated over 50 percent of th e 25 assessed deficiency for each of the taxable years, 2003 and Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 6 1 2004 . Nevertheless, Petitioners refused to pay the balance 2- and continued to challenge the remaining liability for eac h 3 year . 4 On July 30, 2008, Respondent ' s Appeals Offic e 5 determined that the proposed collection action (levy) could 6 proceed after November 20, 2008, if the remaining 7 liabilities for 2003 and 2004 had not been satisfied by tha t 8 time . 9 On August 18., 2008 , Petitioners timely filed a n 10 action for collection review with this Court . 11 As of .September 11, 2009, Petitioners had not paid 12 the outstanding liabilities remaining (after audi t 13 reconsideration) for 2003 and 2004 . 14 Pursuant to notice, Respondent's motion fo r 15 summary judgment, as supplemented, was called for hearing on 16 Wednesday, September 23, 2009, in Boston, Massachusetts . As 17 previously stated, counsel for Respondent appeared, bu t 18 Petitioners did not . 19 20 VII . Summary Judgment ., Summary judgment is intended t o 21 expedite litigation and avoid unnecessary and expensiv e 22 trials . Fla . Peach Corp . v . Commissioner , 2-9 T .C . 678, 681 23 (1988) . Summary judgment may be granted with respect to all . 24 or any part of the legal issues in controversy "if th e 25 pleadings, answers to interrogatories, depositions, Heritage Reporting Corporatio n (202) 628-4888 7 1 admissions, and any other acceptable materials, together '2 with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuin e 3 issue as to any material fact and that a decision may be 4 rendered as a matter of law ." Rule 121(a) and (b) . 5 After carefully reviewing the record, we ar e 6 satisfied that there is no genuine issue as to any material 7 fact, and a decision may be rendered as a matterof law . 8 Accordingly, we shall grant Respondent's motion for summary 9 judgment, as supplemented . 10 VIII . 11 Section 6330 generally provides that the 12 Commissioner cannot proceed with collection by levy until 13 the person has been given notice and the opportunity for an 14 administrative review of the matter (in the form of a n 15 Appeals Office hearing) and, if dissatisfied, with judicia l 16 review of the administrative determination . See Davis v . 17 Commissioner , 115 T .C . 35, 37 (2000) ; Goza v . Commissioner , 18 114 T .C . 176, 179 (2000) . 19 Section 6330(c) prescribes the mattersithat a 20 person may raise at an Appeals office hearing . Section 21 6330(c)(2)(B) provides that the existence or the amount of 22 the underlying tax liability may be contested but only i f 23 the person did not receive a notice of deficiency or did no t 24 otherwise have an earlier opportunity to dispute such'ta x 25 liability . Goza v . Commissioner , supra at 180 - 181 ; see Sego Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 8 1 v . Commissioner , 114 T .C . 604, 609 (2000) . Section 6330(d) 2 provides for judicial review of the administrativ e 3 determination in the Tax Court . 4 Petitioners seek only to challenge the existence 5 or amount of their underlying liabilities for 2003 and 2004 . 6 However, Petitioner are barred from doing so by virtue o f 7 Section 6330(c)(2)(B) because they had an earlie r 8 opportunity to dispute those liabilities . See Goza v . . 9 Commissioner, supra ; Sego v . Commissioner , supra . Thus , 10 Petitioners could have, but did not, file an action for 11 redetermination of deficiencies upon receipt of th e 12 September 12, 2006, notice of deficiency . But even i f 13 Petitioners did not actually receive that notice (a matte r 14 not even alleged by them ), Petitioners could have, but did 15 not, challenge the existence or amount of their underlying 16 liabilities in the bankruptcy court after Respondent filed 17 his proof of claim . 18 Because Petitioners have raised no issue other 19 than the existence or amount of their underlying 20 liabilities, and because Petitioners are barred from . raising 21 that issue by virtue of Section 6330(c)(2)(B), summar y 22 judgment is appropriate, and Respondent's motion 'shall be 23 granted . 24 IX . 25 Petitioners have failed to make a valid challenge Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 9 1 to the appropriateness of Respondent ' s intended ollection action or raise a collection alternative . Any such issue is now deemed to be conceded . See Rule 331 ( b)(4) (I'Any issu e 4 not raised in the assignments of error shall be deemed to b e 5 conceded .") . In the absence of a valid issue for review, w e 7 conclude that Respondent is entitled to judgmen t as a matter. of law sustaining the notice of determination . Accordingly , 9 we shall grant Respondent ' s motion and thereby sustain the 10 determination of the Appeals Office permitting Respondent to I 11 proceed with collection by levy . 12 X . 13 In sum, we shall enter an order and decision i n 14 which we shall ( 1) grant Respondent ' s motion for summary 15 judgment, filed July 22, 2009, and supplemented S eptember 16 22, 2009 ; and (2 ) decide that Respondent may proc eed with 17 the proposed collection action (levy) for the taxable years 18 2003 and 2004, as determined in the notice of determination, 19 dated July 30, 2008, upon which notice this case is based . 2 0 21 XI . This concludes the Court ' s oral findings of fac t 22 and opinion in this case . 23 (Whereupon, at 1 :50 p .m ., the bench opinion in the 24 above-entitled matter was concluded . ) 25 // Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888