Patrick Mooney writes to danama.1:
Your next step will be to take your case to the United States District Court. I lost in my Tax Court case this past Monday. It was a thoroughly enlightening experience for me, despite the loss, which I really expected from the TC anyway.
I have not actually filed with the District Court yet, but my understanding of the "status" of such a case would be "de novo" or brand new, even if it is an appeal of a Tax Court decision.
Clue to Patrick: If you want to appeal a Tax Court decision, the place to go is not the District Court. And if you file a complaint in District Court, I think you might have some
res judicata or
collateral estoppel problems, or both.
Tax Courts are not full fledged courts. They are administrative hearings ruled by experienced IRS shakedown artists.
Really? Tell that to the United States Congress, which enacted the following:
There is hereby established, under article I of the Constitution of the United States, a court of record to be known as the United States Tax Court. The members of the Tax Court shall be the chief judge and the judges of the Tax Court.
--26 USC 7441. No it's not an Article III court; it's an Article I court. But it's still a court.
Patrick Michael Mooney blathers on:
As long as you did not give up your original 1040 testimony at the TC trial, it is still valid, even if the IRS goes into collection mode. (By the way, they will still need a signed COURT ORDER in order to collect...not a Tax Court order).
Uh, no Patrick. Hate to be the one to break it to you, but the Internal Revenue Service does not need a court order to execute a section 6331 administrative levy. See 26 USC 6331 and the case of
Brian v. Gugin (note: Ralph Brian was the taxpayer and "Gugin" was a government employee):
The plaintiffs' premise for their complaint is that the IRS agents were required to have a court order in order to be able to legally seize property for delinquent taxes. Unfortunately, this is a faulty premise. Title 26 U.S.C. §6331 authorizes the IRS to seize property of any person liable for any tax upon ten days notice. [ . . . ]
A levy by definition is a summary non-judicial process which provides the IRS with prompt and convenient method for satisfying delinquent tax claims. [ . . . ] [T]he IRS has the option under §6502 to collect its assessment by either a levy or a court proceeding [ . . . . ]
Accordingly, the IRS agents were acting within the authority granted under §6331 and no court order was required for the attempted levy on Ralph Brian's property. [ . . . ]
It is important to note that the plaintiff Ralph Brian is not without a course of action under the Internal Revenue Code. If the delinquent taxes claimed are not delinquent, the taxpayer may bring an action with the IRS for a refund.
Brian v. Gugin, 853 F. Supp. 358, 94-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 50,278 (D. Idaho 1994),
aff’d, 95-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 50,067 (9th Cir. 1995) (bolding added).
Patrick Michael Mooney blathers on:
In filing with the District Court, I imagine these points would be part of your suit:
1) A lawful 1040 was filed.
2) Any lawful 1040 can not meet the statutory definition of Frivolous as defined in sec. 6702 (1)(a)(b)
Not exactly, Patrick. A Form 1040 tax return could be legally classified as a "tax return" and still contain frivolous positions for purposes of 6702.
More blather:
The IRS needs to produce a sworn (signed) testimony of your annual income in order for a tax to be assessed. Since they can not file one if yours is on the record, there is no deficiency.
Wrong, Patrick. There is no requirement that the IRS produce a sworn statement of your annual income in order for a tax to be assessed -- at least not any sworn statement from you the taxpayer. And there is no requirement that the IRS even prepare a 6020(b) return in order to assess the tax. And once the Tax Court rules that a deficiency exists, the IRS is basically free to assess the tax, send notice and demand, and, if the tax is not paid within the prescribed time (is the rule still 10 days??), begin forced collection, with a statutory tax lien in effect, effective retroactively to the date of the assessment.
More blather:
4) There being no deficiency, the Court must rule that the IRS return your property and remove any alleged penalties and fines.
Dream on, dear boy.
"My greatest fear is that the audience will beat me to the punch line." -- David Mamet