Court Opinion

ID: 9479347
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:15:11.979637+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:58.006547
License: Public Domain

ENGEL, Chief Judge,
concurring.
I fully concur in Judge Merritt’s concise and well balanced opinion. As he explains, section 6700 penalties for abusive tax shelters are to be assessed and collected “as taxes.” 26 U.S.C. § 6671(a). Moreover, the Code and applicable regulations further require only that notices of such assessments include the amount of the penalty and a demand for payment thereof. 26 U.S.C. § 6303(a). Thus, to the extent the district court held that the Code itself requires something more, I agree that the court below erred.
I write only to emphasize that because we believe that the assessee was neither prejudiced nor misled, we do not reach the due process question ultimately raised by this statutory scheme. I, like the district judge, however, entertain some serious reservations concerning the validity if not the wisdom of the bare bones notice apparently required by Congress in these cases. There is in the statutory framework the potential for abuse through mistake or even, perhaps, vindictive purpose because there is no requirement that an assessee be notified of the exact nature and time period of the challenged conduct. Whether, in such a case, the post-assessment remedies or even the pre-assessment notice will be sufficient to satisfy procedural due process can be left, however, to another day for certainly no such evil occurred here. I simply write to make it clear that we do not intend to preclude that kind of constitutional scrutiny at a later date.