McDermott v. Commissioner , 336 F. App'x 764 ( 2009 )

FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
June 9, 2009
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
W. BRIAN McDERMOTT,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v. No. 08-9006
(Tax Court No. 19530-06)
COMMISSIONER OF THE
INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE,
Respondent-Appellee.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before O’BRIEN, Circuit Judge, BRORBY, Senior Circuit Judge, and
McCONNELL, Circuit Judge.
In March 2000, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (“Commissioner”)
mailed W. Brian McDermott and his now-deceased wife a notice of deficiency
pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6212 concerning their 1996 individual income tax return.
The notice attributed income to them from various partnerships and explained that
*
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of
this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is
therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is
not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata,
and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value
consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1.
under 26 U.S.C. § 6213(a), they had ninety days to file a petition for
redetermination. It was not until September 2006, however, that Mr. McDermott
filed a petition in which he challenged the validity of the notice. He
acknowledged the petition was filed more than six years after the ninety-day
deadline, but argued his untimely filing was excused because the notice
improperly attributed partnership income to him before the conclusion of
partnership proceedings, and was thus invalid. The Tax Court never addressed
the validity of the notice, but instead dismissed his petition as time-barred.
“We review tax court decisions in the same manner and to the same extent
as decisions of the district courts in civil actions tried without a jury. The Tax
Court’s legal conclusions are subject to de novo review, and its factual findings
can be set aside only if clearly erroneous.” Katz v. Comm’r, 335 F.3d 1121,
1125-26 (10th Cir. 2003) (citations and quotation marks omitted).
Title 26 U.S.C. § 6221 provides that “the tax treatment of any partnership
item . . . shall be determined at the partnership level.” As such, “[a] partnership-
level proceeding is the exclusive means for adjusting a partnership item.” Katz,
335 F.3d at 1124. In Dubin v. Comm’r, 99 T.C. 325 (1992), the taxpayers filed an
untimely petition for redetermination arguing that the “notice of deficiency is
invalid because all of the items giving rise to adjustments are partnership items
(or affected items) and [the Commissioner] has failed to comply with the unified
audit and litigation procedures applicable to partnership items.” Id. at 327. The
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tax court stated that “[a]lthough [the taxpayer] concedes that her petition was not
timely filed, we must take up first the validity of [the Commissioner’s] notice of
deficiency.” Id. The court then outlined the procedure when the taxpayer files an
untimely petition that challenges the validity of a notice:
If [the Commissioner] issued a valid notice of deficiency, then we
must grant [the Commissioner’s] motion and dismiss this case for
lack of jurisdiction on account of [the taxpayer’s] failure to file a
timely petition. In contrast, if respondent failed to issue a valid
notice of deficiency, we must dismiss this case for lack of
jurisdiction on that ground, rather than on the ground of an untimely
petition. Accordingly, we focus first on whether and the extent to
which [the Commissioner’s] notice of deficiency is valid.
Id. (citations omitted). Accord Rochelle v. Comm’r, 116 T.C. 356, 358 (2001)
(holding that “[i]f the notice of deficiency is found to be invalid, we must dismiss
in petitioner’s favor regardless of whether the taxpayer’s petition was timely
filed.”).
The Tax Court in this case did not rule on the validity of the notice. It
reasoned instead that “[t]he factual issue as to whether income charged to [the
taxpayers] in [the Commissioner’s] notice of deficiency represents income [the
taxpayers] earned as [] partner[s] in a . . . partnership does not go to the
jurisdiction of this Court[,]” R., Doc. 11, at 4, and dismissed the petition as
untimely. To the contrary, that issue must be resolved in the first instance. The
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failure to do so means that the case is REMANDED to the tax court for further
proceedings consistent with this Order and Judgment.
Entered for the Court
Terrence L. O’Brien
Circuit Judge
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