Source: https://openjurist.org/446/f3d/785/bartman-v-commissioner-of-internal-revenue
Timestamp: 2019-10-16 04:52:10
Document Index: 111056201

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 6402', '§ 6212', '§ 6015', '§ 6015', '§ 6015', '§ 6015', '§ 6015', '§ 6015', '§ 6015', '§ 1', '§ 6015', '§ 6015', '§ 6015', '§ 6015', '§ 6015', '§ 6015']

446 F3d 785 Bartman v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue | OpenJurist
446 F. 3d 785 - Bartman v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
446 F3d 785 Bartman v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
446 F.3d 785
Theresa E. BARTMAN, Appellant,
Bartman and her now-former spouse timely filed a joint income tax return for tax year 1995 reporting a $12,377 underpayment, but they did not include payment with the return. Bartman separated from her husband in 1997 and filed a separate federal income tax return for tax year 1997 on which she indicated that she overpaid her tax liability by $1,922. Pursuant to Internal Revenue Code ("IRC"), 26 U.S.C. § 6402(a),1 the IRS then credited the tax year 1997 overpayment to the tax year 1995 underpayment, for which Bartman was then still jointly liable.
We review de novo a tax court's conclusion of law, including a determination regarding its jurisdiction. Condor Int'l, Inc. v. Comm'r, 78 F.3d 1355, 1358 (9th Cir.1996); see also Arkansas Oil & Gas, Inc. v. Comm'r, 114 F.3d 795, 798 (8th Cir.1997).
Congress created the United States Tax Court "to provide taxpayers with a means of challenging assessments made by the Commissioner without first having to pay the alleged deficiency. Without such a forum, taxpayers would have to pay the asserted deficiency and then initiate a suit in federal district court for a refund." Samuels, Kramer & Co. v. Comm'r, 930 F.2d 975, 979 (2d Cir.1991). As an Article I court, the tax court is a court of "strictly limited jurisdiction." Kelley v. Comm'r, 45 F.3d 348, 351 (9th Cir.1995). A notice of deficiency issued by the IRS pursuant to § 6212 is the taxpayer's jurisdictional "ticket to the Tax Court." Bokum v. Comm'r, 992 F.2d 1136, 1139 (11th Cir.1993) (quoting Stoecklin v. Comm'r, 865 F.2d 1221, 1224 (11th Cir. 1989)); Spector v. Comm'r, 790 F.2d 51, 52 (8th Cir.1986) (per curiam) (citing Laing v. United States, 423 U.S. 161, 165, 96 S.Ct. 473, 46 L.Ed.2d 416 n. 4 (1976), and holding that "the determination of a deficiency and the issue of a notice of deficiency is an absolute precondition to tax court jurisdiction"). Accordingly, the IRC provides that the tax court has jurisdiction over petitions for review from determinations regarding the availability of § 6015 relief only where a deficiency has been asserted against the taxpayer. § 6015(e)(1).
The IRS did not determine a deficiency against Bartman for tax year 1997. Bartman cites Ewing v. Comm'r, 118 T.C. 494, 2002 WL 1150775 (2002), where the tax court found that it had jurisdiction to review a petition from a denial of a request for § 6015 relief, despite the fact that no notice of deficiency had been issued. Since briefing and oral argument in this case, however, the Ninth Circuit reversed the tax court and held that the tax court has no jurisdiction under § 6015(e) to consider a petition for review where no deficiency was determined by the IRS. Comm'r v. Ewing, 439 F.3d 1009, 1012-14 (9th Cir.2006). We agree with the Ninth Circuit that the tax court lacks jurisdiction under § 6015(e) unless a deficiency was asserted against the individual petitioning for review. The language of § 6015(e)(1) is clear and unambiguous: an individual may petition the tax court for review "[i]n the case of an individual against whom a deficiency has been asserted and who elects to have subsection (b) and (c) apply. . . ." 26 U.S.C. § 6015(e)(1) (emphasis added).2 As such, we end our inquiry into the meaning of the statute and apply its plain language. Citicasters v. McCaskill, 89 F.3d 1350, 1354-55 (8th Cir.1996); Arkansas AFL-CIO v. FCC, 11 F.3d 1430, 1440 (8th Cir.1993) (en banc). Applying the statute's plain language, we hold that the tax court had no jurisdiction to review Bartman's petition for review of the IRS's denial of her tax year 1997 refund request because no deficiency had been assessed against Bartman for tax year 1997.
"Section" or "§" refers to the indicated section of the IRC, 26 U.S.C. § 1 et seq
The parties also addressed in their briefs the issue of whether § 6015(e) excludes tax court jurisdiction over petitions for review involving only § 6015(f) relief determinations, given that the plain language of § 6015(e) appears to provide for tax court jurisdiction over petitions for review involving relief under § 6015(b) or § 6015(c), but not relief under § 6015(f). We, like the Ninth Circuit inEwing, need not reach this issue as jurisdiction fails on the independent ground that the IRS did not assert a deficiency against the taxpayer.