DocketNumber: Docket No. 6656-13L
Citation Numbers: 2015 T.C. Memo. 239, 110 T.C.M. 581, 2015 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 247
Judges: MORRISON
Filed Date: 12/14/2015
Status: Non-Precedential
Modified Date: 11/21/2020
Decision will be entered for respondent.
MORRISON,
Berglund did not file a federal-income-tax return for the tax year 2007.
On November 8, 2011, the IRS sent Berglund a notice of deficiency for the tax year 2007. Berglund received the notice of deficiency. He did not petition the Tax Court for a redetermination of the deficiency.
The IRS claims that on March 26, 2012, an assessment was made of Berglund's income-tax liability for tax year 2007. Berglund asserts that the assessment is invalid because he contends the IRS does not have a signed summary record of assessment. As we explain below, we hold that the*248 March 26, 2012 assessment is valid.
In a letter dated November 27, 2012, the IRS stated to Berglund: "We filed a Notice of Federal Tax Lien on 11/28/12". The letter stated that the notice of lien related to Berglund's income-tax liability for tax year 2007 and that this liability had been assessed on March 26, 2012. The letter advised Berglund of his right to request a collection-review hearing with the Appeals Office. *241 On November 28, 2012, the IRS filed a notice of lien in Washington County, Minnesota, to collect Berglund's income-tax liability for tax year 2007. This is the lien filing referred to in the November 27, 2012 letter, even though that letter predated the lien filing by one day.
On November 29, 2012, the IRS issued a notice to Berglund that it intended to levy to collect his income-tax liability for tax year 2007. The notice advised Berglund of his right to request a collection-review hearing with the Appeals Office.
On December 6, 2012, Berglund sent the IRS a request under the
On December 10, 2012, Berglund sent the IRS a request for a collection-review hearing in response to both the November 27, 2012 notice of lien filing and the November 29, 2012 notice of intent to levy. In his request, Berglund contended that he had no income for tax year 2007 because he did not do business in the District of Columbia. He also contended that the Form 1040 was an "outlaw form".
*242 On December 20, 2012, Berglund sent the IRS an addendum to his December 10, 2012 request for a collection-review hearing. Berglund demanded that the IRS withdraw the notice of lien filed against him. He claimed that the IRS did not have "a lawful, procedurally valid, signed assessment" for his tax year 2007. He requested proof of verification from the Secretary of the Treasury that the requirements of any applicable law or administrative procedure had been met pursuant to
On December 27, 2012, Berglund sent the IRS a second addendum to his December 10, 2012 request for a collection-review hearing. In this addendum, Berglund stated that he could not find the statute that imposed a federal-income *243 tax on him or required him to file a federal-income-tax return. He demanded that the IRS identify the statute.
On January 5, 2013, Berglund sent the IRS a third addendum to his December 10, 2012 request for a collection-review hearing. In this addendum, Berglund demanded that the Appeals Office prove that he was a "taxpayer". Berglund also requested 22 pieces of information about the IRS employees involved in his collection-review hearing, including an affidavit from each employee stating that he or she did not pay to be appointed to office.
On January 10, 2013, the Appeals Office wrote a letter to Berglund stating that it had received his*251 request for a collection-review hearing and had assigned the case to its St. Paul, Minnesota, office.
On January 30, 2013, the IRS's disclosure office sent Berglund a letter responding to his December 6, 2012
On February 7, 2013, the Appeals Office wrote a letter to Berglund scheduling a correspondence hearing for him on February 25, 2013. The letter gave Berglund two weeks--i.e., until February 21, 2013--to*252 submit any relevant documents to the Appeals Office, including--"[r]egarding the liability you are raising"--a Form 1040 for tax year 2007.
On February 18, 2013, Berglund wrote a letter to the Appeals Office in response to its February 7, 2013 letter. Berglund wrote that he again was withdrawing any legal positions that were "classified and published by the IRS as frivolous or groundless." Berglund asked the Appeals Office to add the letter to his previous submissions regarding the collection-review hearing.
On March 11, 2013, the Appeals Office issued its notice of determination. In the notice the Appeals Office stated that it "verified through transcript analysis" that the assessment of income-tax liability had been made for tax year 2007. *245 Among the documents considered by the Appeals Office in verifying that an assessment had been made were the following computerized transcripts of account: • printouts from IRS electronic records in the Integrated Data Retrieval System, stamped with the date January 15, 2013, and • an undated printout from the Integrated Data Retrieval System.4
Berglund filed a timely petition challenging the determination. He was a*254 resident of Minnesota when he filed his petition. In his petition, Berglund contended that the IRS did not have a "signed" assessment because none of the 29 pages of documents he received in response to his
At trial we admitted a copy of the administrative file of the Appeals Office. Among the documents in the administrative file was a copy of Berglund's
In his post-trial brief, Berglund contends that there is no signed summary record of assessment because the summary record of assessment he had received in response to his
The Internal Revenue Code directs the Treasury Secretary--acting through the IRS--to determine, assess, and collect federal taxes.
The IRS is authorized to assess any tax reported on the taxpayer's return.
When the IRS assesses tax, a tax lien arises in favor of the IRS on all the taxpayer's property.
*249 The IRS must offer the taxpayer a collection-review hearing with its Appeals Office after it files a notice of lien.
The Tax Court reviews the determination of the Appeals Office under an abuse-of-discretion*258 standard, except that, if the underlying tax liability is properly *250 at issue, then the underlying tax liability is reviewed de novo.
As part of its duty to verify that the requirements of any applicable law or administrative procedure have been met, the Appeals Office must verify that the IRS made an assessment.6*259 To verify that the IRS had made an assessment of *251 Berglund's tax year 2007 liability, the Appeals Office reviewed computerized transcripts of account. It did not review the original summary record of assessment to verify that it had been signed by an assessment officer.
In this case, the Appeals Office relied on computerized transcripts to verify that the IRS had assessed Berglund's tax year 2007 income-tax liability. We observe that the computerized transcripts are indecipherable.7 The inscrutability of computerized transcripts could in some instances be a bar to sustaining the Appeals Office's determination.
We next consider whether Berglund showed some irregularity in the assessment procedures. Berglund contends that he demonstrated to the Appeals Office that there was an irregularity that required the Appeals Office to verify that the summary record of assessment had been signed. Berglund had obtained a *255 summary record of assessment through
We disagree that Berglund demonstrated an irregularity in the assessment process. In his
Under these circumstances, we hold that (1) the assessment was valid and (2) the Appeals Office did not abuse its discretion in concluding that it had verified that the assessment had been properly made.
1. All references to sections are to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended and in effect at all relevant times, unless otherwise indicated.↩
2. The full name of RACS 006 appears to be "Revenue Accounting Control System (RACS) Report 006".
3. These 29 pages are identified in the trial record as Exhibit 29-J, pages 36 to 64.↩
4. The IRS contends in its post-trial brief that these documents, which it describes as "computerized transcripts of account", were among the documents that the Appeals Office considered in verifying that an assessment has been made. This contention is consistent with the trial record. Berglund does not dispute the contention.↩
5. That is, the IRS.
6. We observed in
7. The computerized transcripts are incomprehensible on their face, and the trial record does not assist us in understanding them.↩
8. The Form 4340 was not part of the administrative file compiled by the Appeals Office. Under the administrative-record rule, a court reviewing an agency action cannot generally consider evidence outside the administrative record.
There is conflicting authority as to whether the administrative-record rule governs the Tax Court's review of a determination in a collection-review hearing. In
9.
10. Our conclusion is analogous to that of the Court in
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