Ehrlich v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue

Full title: RICHARD J. EHRLICH & DEVORAH BARUCH, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF…

Court: United States Tax Court

Date published: Mar 21, 2023

No. 10478-20 (U.S.T.C. Mar. 21, 2023)

Opinion

10478-20

03-21-2023

RICHARD J. EHRLICH & DEVORAH BARUCH, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent

David Gustafson, Judge

ORDER

David Gustafson, Judge

This case is scheduled to be tried in about seven weeks at the Tax Court's trial session beginning May 8, 2023. The same is true for three related cases--Docket Nos. 10479-20, 10480-20, and 10481-20--in all of which the parties are presented by the same respective counsel. We will order the parties to file a status report in this case in about three weeks.

The petitions in the four related cases were all filed in July 2020, and they are among the older cases on the calendar for this trial session. The cases were previously set for trial in December 2021 and May 2022 but in each instance were continued at the request of the parties. In a motion for continuance (Doc. 18) filed in this case on August 10, 2021, the parties stated:

4. The docketed cases are currently being worked by the Office of Appeals. However, the primary issue in these cases involve treaty records and access to those records has been slow.

5. The parties believe that the docketed cases can likely be resolved with the IRS Office of Appeals without the need for trial. However, because of the complexity of these cases, and the fact that the notice of deficiencies include penalties under I.R.C. § 6663, the parties do not believe that they will have time to adequately prepare this case for trial in the event that the Office of Appeals cannot resolve this case.

6. The parties believe that continuing the docketed cases from the remote trial session of the Court scheduled to commence at Washington, DC, on December 13, 2021 will allow the petitioners to continue to work with the Office of Appeals in an attempt to resolve these cases administratively. Even if the parties

cannot resolve these cases administratively, the parties believe that additional consideration by the Office of Appeals will narrow issues and lead to a more effective trial on any issues that may remain.

In a motion for continuance (Doc. 24) filed in this case six months later on February 18, 2022, the parties stated:

3. The docketed cases were recently transferred to a new Appeals Officer, who is just starting to familiarize herself with them.

4. The parties believe that the docketed cases can likely be resolved with the Office of Appeals without the need for trial. However, because of the complexity of these cases, which involve treaty records, and the fact that the notices of deficiency include penalties under Internal Revenue Code section 6663, the parties do not believe that they will have time to adequately prepare this case for trial in the event that the Office of Appeals cannot resolve this case.

5. The parties believe that continuing the docketed cases from the trial session of the Court scheduled to commence at Washington, DC, on May 9, 2022, will allow Petitioners to continue working with the Office of Appeals in an attempt to resolve these cases administratively. Even if the parties cannot resolve these cases administratively, the parties believe that additional consideration by the Office of Appeals will narrow the issues and lead to a more effective trail on any issues that remain.

That is, with the exception of the discouraging information in paragraph 3, the February 2022 motion gave essentially the same information that had been given in the August 2021 motion. Equivalent motions were filed in the other three related cases. More than a year has passed since the filing of the February 2022 motion for continuance, and in that year neither party has made any substantive filing.

On January 12, 2023, we filed and served our notice of trial (Doc. 26) and our standing pretrial order ("SPTO"; Doc. 27). The SPTO gave the parties instructions about preparing for trial, including the instruction to file pretrial memoranda by April 17, 2023, and the instruction to file their stipulation and proposed trial exhibits by April 24, 2023.

It is

ORDERED that, no later than April 7, 2023, the parties shall file in this one case a joint status report (or, if that is not expedient, then separate reports) advising the Court of their progress in pretrial preparation in all four of the related cases--especially the preparation of joint stipulations of fact. It is further

ORDERED that the status report(s) so filed shall the position of each party in all four of the related cases as to the appropriateness of consolidating the four related cases.