TAX COURT OPINION

Case: Jackie D. Birdsell
Docket Number: 4823-07S
Judge: Colvin
Opinion Type: bench
Filed: 11/19/2008
Pages: 9

L;'t . /! t3, G A'V 1/j UNITED STATES TAX COURT WASHINGTON , DC 2021 7 JACKIE D . & JOAN V . BIRDSELL, Petitioner s v . ) Docket No . 4823-07S . COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE , Respondent 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 Kansas City, Missouri on November 5, 2008, 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 appropriate Order will beer sue I (Signed) Robert N . Armen, Jr. Special Trial Judg e Dated : Washington, D .C . November 19, 2008 SERVED NON 2 4 2008 3 1 Bench Opinion by special Trial Judge Robert N . Armen Jr . 2 November 5, 200 8 3 Birdsell v . Commissioner Docket No . 4823-07S 4 I(cid:127) 5 THE COURT : The Court has decided to rende r 6 oral findings of fact and opinion in this case, and the 7 following represents the Court's oral findings of fac t 8 and opinion . The oral findings of fact and opinion shall 9 not be relied upon as precedent in any other case . 10 II . 11 This proceeding was heard as a Small Tax Case 12 pursuant to the provisions of section 7463 of th e 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 . 16 III . 17 This bench opinion is made pursuant to the 18 authority granted by section 7459(b) of the Interna l 19 Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and Rule 152 of the Tax 20 Court Rules of Practice and Procedure . 21 Hereinafter in this bench opinion, and unless 22 otherwise indicated, all section numbers refer to th e 23 Internal Revenue Code, as amended, and all Rule numbers 24 refer to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure . 25 Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 1 IV . 2 Jackie D . Birdsell and Joan V . Birdsel l 3 appeared on their own behalf . Dennis R . Onnen appeared 4 4 on behalf of respondent . 5 V . 6 By Notice dated and served on petitioners by 7 certified mail on June 2, 2008, this case was calendared 8 for trial on November 3, 2008, in Kansas City, Missouri . 9 However, on October 27, 2008, respondent filed a Motio n 10 to Dismiss For Lack of Jurisdiction And To Strike As To 11 The Taxable Years 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2003, 12 a copy of which was served by respondent on petitioners 13 by mail on October 24, 2008 . (For the sake o f 14 convenience, we shall hereinafter generally refer to this 15 motion simply as respondent's motion . ) 16 In his motion, respondent contends that this 17 case, insofar as it relates to the 6 enumerated taxable 18 years, should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction on 19 the ground that no notice of deficiency and no notice of 20 determination for any of those years has been sent t o 21 petitioners with respect to income tax for any of said 22 taxable (calendar) years . 23- By Order dated October 28, 2008, the Court 24 calendared respondent's motion for hearing on November 3, 25 2008, in Kansas City, Missouri . Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 5 1 On October 29, 2008, petitioners filed an 2 Objection to respondent's motion . 3 Pursuant to the aforementioned Order, thi s 4 case was called from the calendar on November 3, 2008, in 5 Kansas City, Missouri . Petitioners and counsel fo r 6 respondent appeared . The following day, November 4, 7 2008, this case was recalled from the calendar fo r 8 argument . Petitioners and counsel for respondent again 9 appeared and presented argument in support of thei r 10 respective positions . 11 VI . 12 Because this Court may only hear and decide a 13 case on the merits if the Court has jurisdiction, th e 14 threshold issue for decision is necessarily whethe r 15 respondent sent to either petitioner Jackie D . Birdsell 16 or petitioner Joan V . Birdsell a notice of deficiency or 17 a notice of determination with respect to income tax for 18 any of the taxable (calendar) years 1994, 1997, 1998 , 19 1999, 2001, or 2003 . 20 VII . 21 We begin with the law regarding ou r 22 jurisdiction and then consider, first, the jurisdictional 23 requirements for an action for redetermination o f 24 deficiency and, second, the jurisdictional requirements 25 for a collection review action (lien or levy action) . Heritage Reporting Corporatio n (202) 628-4888 6 1 The Tax Court is a court of limite d 2 jurisdiction . See sec . 7442 . Accordingly, we may 3 exercise jurisdiction only to the extent expressl y 4 authorized by statute . Breman v . Commissioner , 66 T .C . 5 61, 66 (1976) . In addition, jurisdiction must be proven 6 affirmatively, and a party invoking our jurisdictio n 7 bears the burden of proving that we have jurisdiction 8 over the party's case . See Fehrs v . Commissioner , 6 5 9 T .C . 346, 348 (1975) ; Wheeler's Peachtree Pharmacy, Inc . 10 v . Commissioner , 35 T .C . 177, 180 (1960) ; National Comm . 11 to Secure Justice, Etc ., v . Commissioner , 27 T .C . 837 , 12 839 (1957) . In order to meet this burden, the party must 13 establish affirmatively all facts giving rise to ou r 14 jurisdiction . See Wheeler's Peachtree Pharmacy, Inc . v . 15 16 17 Commissioner , supra at 180 ; Consolidated Co . v . Commissioner , 15 B .T .A . 645, 651 (1929) . Deficiency Actio n 18 In an action for the redetermination of a 19 deficiency, the Court's jurisdiction under sectio n 20 6213(a) depends on the issuance by the Commissioner of a 21 notice of deficiency to the taxpayer and the timel y 22 filing of a petition by the taxpayer . Frieling v . 23 Commissioner , 81 T .C . 42, 46 (1983) ; Rule 13(a) . Section 24 6212(a) expressly authorizes the Commissioner, afte r 25 determining a deficiency, to send a notice of deficiency Heritage Reporting Corporatio n (202) 628-4888 7 1 to the taxpayer by certified or registered mail . The 2 taxpayer, in turn, has 90 days from the date that th e 3 notice of deficiency is mailed to file a petition in this 4 Court for a redetermination of the deficiency . Sec . 5 6213 (a) . Thus, in the absence of a notice of deficiency, 6 the Court lacks jurisdiction . 7 Collection Review Action 8 In a collection review action , this Court's 9 jurisdiction under sections 6320 and 6330 depends, in 10 part, on the issuance of a notice of determination by 11 respondent's office of Appeals after the taxpayer has 12 requested an administrative hearing following th e 13 issuance by respondent's collection division of either a 14 final notice of intent to levy, see sec . 6330(a), or a 15 notice of filing of Federal tax lien, see sec . 6320(a) . 16 See Sarrell v . Commissioner , 117 T .C . 122, 125 (2001) ; 17 18 Moorhous v . Commissioner , 116 T .C . 263, 269 (2001) ; Offiler v . Commissioner , 114 T .C . 492, 498 ( 2000) ; see 19 also Rule 330(b) . Thus, in the absence of a notice of 20 determination, the Court lacks jurisdiction . 21 In the present case, the record demonstrates 22 that petitioners' have outstanding liabilities for income 23 taxes for the taxable (calendar) years 1994, 1997, 1998, 24 1999, 2001, and 2003 . However, all of those liabilities 25 relate to unpaid liabilities reported by petitioners o n Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 8 1 returns filed by them for those 6 years . In short, ther e 2 are no deficiencies in income taxes for any of thos e 3 years . See sec . 6211(a) . Accordingly, respondent had no 4 occasion to, and therefore did not, issue any notice o f 5 deficiency to petitioners for any of those 6 years . 6 In the present case, the record demonstrates 7 that respondent did issue a notice of determination t o 8 petitioner Jackie D . Birdsell for outstanding liabilities 9 owed by him for (1) Federal employment tax ("941 tax"), 10 (2) Federal unemployment tax ("940 tax"), and (3) a civil 11 penalty under section 6721 for intentional disregard of 12 the filing requirement (or the correct informatio n 13 reporting requirement) in respect of Forms W-2 . The 14 record also demonstrates that petitioner Jackie D . 15 Birdsell timely commenced a collection review action in 16 this Court in respect of that notice of determination . 17 However, there is nothing in the record to demonstrate 18 that respondent ever issued a notice of determination to 19 petitioners in respect of their outstanding liabilities 20 for income taxes . Indeed, respondent has expressl y 21 represented that no such notice of determination has been 22 issued, and petitioners have given us no reason t o 23 question that representation . 2 4 25 Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 9 1 IX . 2 In view of the foregoing, we hold that we 3 lack deficiency jurisdiction in this case as to any of 4 the taxable (calendar) years that petitioners seek t o 5 place in issue ; we also hold that we lack collection 6 review jurisdiction with respect to petitioners' income 7 tx liabilities for any of such taxable years . 8 X . 9 In conclusion, we shall enter an Order : (1) 10 Granting respondent's Motion to Dismiss For Lack O f 11 Jurisdiction And To Strike As To The Taxable Years 1994, 12 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2003, filed October 27, 2008 ; 13 (2) dismissing this case, insofar as it relates to the 6 14 enumerated taxable years, on the ground that neither a 15 notice of deficiency nor a notice of determination for 16 any of those years has been sent to either petitione r 17 with respect to income tax for any of said taxable 18 (calendar) years ; (3) striking those portions o f 19 paragraph 2 of the petition in which reference is made to 20 the 6 enumerated taxable years ; (4) dismissing this case 21 as to Joan V . Birdsell on the ground that respondent has 22 sent neither a notice of deficiency nor a notice o f 23 determination to her for any taxable period at issue in 24 this case ; and (5) changing the caption in this case to 25 read "Jackie D . Birdsell, Petitioner v . Commissioner of Heritage Reporting Corporatio n (202) 628-4888 1 0 1 Internal Revenue, Respondent" . 2 XI . 3 This concludes the Court's oral findings o f 4 fact and opinion in this case . 5 (Whereupon , at 8 :45 a .m ., the bench opinion 6 in the above-entitled matter was concluded . ) 7 8 9 // 1 0 11 // 1 2 13 // 14 // 1 5 16 // 17 // 1 8 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888