United States Tax Court

The United States Tax Court held that Tax Court Rule 143(g) does not apply to declarations submitted in support of a pretrial discovery protective‑order motion and consequently denied Airbnb's motions to strike those declarations.

The court sustained the deficiencies, additions to tax, and accuracy-related penalties determined against petitioner for 2015 through 2019. Respondent met its burdens of production through third-party income records, account transcripts, substitutes for returns, and penalty-approval forms, while petitioner offered no…

The Court held that petitioners were entitled to a 2010 theft-loss deduction of $925,000 for funds transferred in connection with the purported $70 million investment deal, but not for additional amounts advanced to cover Mr. Visel's living expenses.

The Tax Court sustained the Commissioner's FPAA adjustments reclassifying $170,764,863 of reported qualified dividend income (QDI) from Swiss Equities as ordinary dividend income and disallowing a $25,614,729 foreign tax credit (FTC).

The Court denied the Commissioner's motion to dismiss, holding that the Final Partnership Adjustment was properly issued and mailed and that the partnership's petition was untimely.

The Tax Court granted the Commissioner partial summary judgment, holding that Delavau Holdings, LLC — a disregarded entity deemed to liquidate into HBM in a section 332 liquidation on June 30, 2018 — was a 'predecessor' of HBM under Treas. Reg.

The Tax Court held that Siemens was entitled to the full dividends-received deduction for its foreign-source dividend under section 245A. The court held that the Extraordinary Disposition Rules could not limit that deduction because they conflicted with the statute's clear text and exceeded Treasury's delegated…

The court determined that the conservation easement was worth $800,000 because the property had a $1,440,000 before value and a stipulated $640,000 after value. It held that the partnership improperly allocated the charitable-contribution deductions because the allocations did not reflect the partners who held…

The court held that the Eilers had to include the full amounts of their credit-reporting litigation settlements in gross income, including amounts paid directly to their attorneys.

The Court held that the Commissioner properly used a supplemental assessment to recover employment taxes that had been mistakenly assessed as zero and refunded to petitioner. Because the erroneous assessment misstated petitioner’s liability by the entire amount of its reported employment tax, it was imperfect in a…

The Court held that it had jurisdiction because the whistleblower's information was forwarded to an examination team while the target's examination remained open under the applicable IRS definition of a closed case.

The Tax Court reviewed a notice of determination upholding a federal tax lien against petitioner's unpaid 1993 tax liability and held that it will examine the Appeals officer's section 6330(c)(1) verification — here, whether a duly mailed notice of deficiency preceded the assessment — regardless of whether the…

The Tax Court denied petitioners' motion for reconsideration of its prior determination that their animal-breeding activity was not operated for profit. The Court held that it was not required to decide whether the burden of proof shifted under section 7491(a) because the evidence preponderated in the Commissioner's…

The Tax Court denied the Commissioner's motion to dismiss for lack of prosecution after substituting Joann Giamelli, executrix of deceased petitioner Joseph Giamelli, and granted the Commissioner's Rule 121 motion for summary judgment upholding the Appeals Office's rejection of a proposed installment agreement and its…

The Tax Court sustained a $3,854 income tax deficiency and the section 6651(a)(1) failure-to-file addition against a taxpayer who filed no 2003 return and pressed frivolous Paperwork Reduction Act and notice-validity arguments, but it rejected the section 6651(a)(2) and section 6654 additions because the Commissioner…

The Tax Court reviewed a settlement officer's determination that the IRS could levy to collect the petitioner's unpaid 1999 tax after rejecting his offer in compromise of $10,000 against a 1992-2001 liability of $275,777.

The Court dismissed the 1998 challenge for lack of jurisdiction because petitioners did not timely request a collection due process hearing after the first levy notice, and the later equivalent-hearing decision letter was not a reviewable determination.

The court sustained the disallowance of the taxpayers’ claimed deductions for driver per diem allowances, subject to a mathematical correction under the applicable rule. Because the allowances were calculated by miles driven, the governing revenue procedures treated them as paid solely for meals and incidental…

The Tax Court, adopting the opinion of Chief Special Trial Judge Panuthos, denied the Commissioner's motion for summary judgment and held that section 6330(c)(2)(B) permits taxpayers to challenge the existence or amount of a tax liability they reported on their original return where they received no statutory notice…

The Court sustained the Commissioner's determination that the taxpayer had unreported income, lacked substantiation for claimed deductions and dependency exemptions, and owed the additional tax on an early retirement-plan distribution.

The court held that the petitioner's wages, interest, and retirement-account distributions were taxable income and sustained the resulting deficiencies and the additional tax on early retirement distributions.

The court held that the Commissioner abused his discretion by denying petitioner equitable relief from the unpaid 1989 joint-return liability under section 6015(f). Petitioner lacked knowledge or reason to know that the liability would remain unpaid, would suffer substantial economic hardship, and did not benefit…

The Tax Court upheld the Commissioner's denial of innocent spouse relief to Rosalinda Alt under I.R.C. sec. 6015. It held it had jurisdiction under sec. 6015(e) over her stand-alone petition for 1982-1988 and over the failure to make any determination on her 1989 request, but denied relief on the merits: no relief was…

The court granted petitioners’ motion for partial summary judgment on whether their charitable transfers of stock warrants were anticipatory assignments of income. Treating the applicable revenue ruling as a concession by the Commissioner, the court held that the relevant inquiry was whether the charitable donees were…

The court granted summary judgment because the 1996 limitations period had not expired when the deficiency notice was mailed, and the mailing suspended the limitations period. Because the petitioner’s other assignments of error had been struck, she was deemed to have conceded the deficiencies and accuracy-related…

The Tax Court sustained the Commissioner's determination to proceed with collection of the taxpayer's 1992-97 income tax deficiencies, additions to tax, and interest, holding that section 6330(c)(2)(B) barred him from contesting the underlying liabilities because he had received notices of deficiency for those years…

The Tax Court held that Barbara Jonson, whose estate sought relief from deficiencies stemming from disallowed Vulcan Oil Technology tax-shelter losses claimed on the 1981 and 1982 joint returns, is not entitled to relief under any prong of section 6015.

The Tax Court sustained the Appeals officer's section 6330 determination, holding that she did not abuse her discretion by verifying the assessments with a Form 4340 or by refusing to produce other requested documents or witnesses, and that the Commissioner may proceed with the proposed levy for 1993-1995 income…

The Tax Court denied the Commissioner's motion for partial summary judgment, holding that the so-called 'one claim' rule of section 6427(i)(1) does not bar FPL Group from obtaining additional fuel tax credits under section 34 beyond the amounts claimed on its original consolidated returns for 1988 through 1992.

The Court dismissed the taxpayer’s petition because he had received a notice of deficiency and therefore could not challenge the existence or amount of that liability in a later collection-review proceeding.

The Tax Court granted the Commissioner summary judgment sustaining a notice of determination refusing to withdraw a Federal tax lien covering the petitioner's 1990 tax deficiency, additions to tax, and interest.

The Tax Court denied Kathryn Cheshire innocent spouse relief under sections 6015(b) and (c) for omitted retirement distribution proceeds and interest income because she had actual knowledge of the items giving rise to the deficiency, holding that actual knowledge of an 'item giving rise to a deficiency' under section…

The Tax Court granted the Commissioner's motion for judgment on the pleadings in this collection due process case brought under section 6330(d), rejecting all three grounds on which the petitioner attacked the Appeals determination sustaining a proposed levy for his 1991, 1992, and 1993 income taxes.

In three consolidated test cases involving VEBA welfare benefit plans marketed by insurance promoters, the Tax Court held that corporate employer contributions in excess of the cost of current-year term life insurance are nondeductible disguised (constructive) distributions to the employee/owners, taxable as dividends…

The Tax Court sustained the Commissioner's collection due process determinations allowing levy to proceed against Steven and Davina Sego for taxable years 1993 through 1995. Because both petitioners received statutory notices of deficiency for those years — Steven returning his marked 'dishonored' and Davina refusing…

The Court dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction because the taxpayer did not timely request a collection due process hearing after receiving the levy notice, so Appeals never issued the determination required for judicial review.

The Tax Court denied Jean Butler innocent spouse relief under section 6015(b)(1), holding that her college education, experience operating her own S corporation, control of the family's finances, the couple's ongoing IRS disputes over prior years, and her actual knowledge of her husband's BGE-DuPont settlement gave…

The Tax Court held that it has jurisdiction under section 6330(d) to review the Commissioner's notice of determination authorizing levy of Howard Goza's 1994-1996 income taxes, even though Goza never petitioned for redetermination of the underlying notice of deficiency.

The Tax Court sustained the Commissioner's bank-deposit-based increases to petitioner's gross receipts for 1990-1992 and disallowed nearly all of his Schedule C deductions for lack of substantiation, allowing only conceded items plus telephone expenses of $7,735 (1990) and $6,616 (1991).

The Tax Court sustained the Commissioner's denial of petitioners' request to abate interest assessed on Woody's Transport's 1988 employment taxes. Construing section 6404(g) by its plain language, the Court held it has jurisdiction to review failures to abate interest under all subsections of section 6404, including…