Raghvendra Singh v. Cir ( 2020 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 16 2020
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
RAGHVENDRA SINGH; KIRAN No. 18-72160
RAWAT,
Tax Ct. No. 5123-17
Petitioners-Appellants,
v. MEMORANDUM*
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL
REVENUE,
Respondent-Appellee.
Appeal from a Decision of the
United States Tax Court
Submitted July 14, 2020**
Before: CANBY, FRIEDLAND, and R. NELSON, Circuit Judges.
Raghvendra Singh and Kiran Rawat appeal pro se from the Tax Court’s
decision, following a bench trial, upholding the determinations of deficiency by the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue regarding their federal income taxes for the
2013 and 2014 tax years. We have jurisdiction under 26 U.S.C. § 7482(a)(1). We
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
review de novo the Tax Court’s legal conclusions, and for clear error its factual
determinations. Hongsermeier v. Comm’r, 621 F.3d 890, 899 (9th Cir. 2010). We
affirm.
The Tax Court did not clearly err in finding that Singh and Rawat were not
entitled to various alleged business, mortgage interest, and real estate deductions
because they failed to offer evidence that clearly showed a right to the claimed
deductions. See Sparkman v. Comm’r, 509 F.3d 1149, 1159 (9th Cir. 2007)
(noting that the taxpayer bears the burden of “clearly showing” the right to the
claimed deduction); Bradford v. Comm’r, 796 F.2d 303, 306 (9th Cir. 1986)
(taxpayers are required to substantiate the amounts expended on cost of goods).
The Tax Court properly found that Singh and Rawat were liable for
accuracy-related penalties for underpayments during the 2013 and 2014 tax years.
See 26 U.S.C. § 6662(a), (b) (accuracy related penalties); Hansen v. Comm’r, 471
F.3d 1021, 1028-29 (9th Cir. 2006) (explaining that accuracy-related penalty on
underpayment of tax may be assessed due to taxpayer’s negligence).
We reject as meritless Singh and Rawat’s various contentions, including that
their due process rights were violated, that the IRS was required to provide them a
trial transcript, that the trial judge should have entered default judgment in their
favor, that the IRS supervisor did not properly approve accuracy-related penalties,
and that the IRS committed fraud.
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We do not consider Singh and Rawat’s contention regarding the notice of
deficiency being sent to the wrong address because the argument was raised for the
first time in a post-trial motion, and Singh and Rawat fail to present any valid
reason for not presenting the argument at trial. See Beech Aircraft Corp. v. United
States, 51 F.3d 834, 841 (9th Cir. 1995) (declining to consider issue raised in a
post-judgment motion where issue could have raised at or before trial and there
was no valid reason for not having done so).
We do not consider arguments and allegations raised for the first time on
appeal. See Padgett v. Wright, 587 F.3d 983, 985 n.2 (9th Cir. 2009).
AFFIRMED.
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