Opinion
4313-20
09-28-2021
Hank Risan Petitioner v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Respondent
ORDER
Mark V. Holmes Judge
This case is on the Court's October 25, 2021 trial calendar for San Francisco, California. On September 20, 2021 petitioner moved without opposition to continue it. This was a second motion to continue, so we spoke with the parties on September 27, 2021.
The case turns out to be only part of Mr. Risan's tax trouble. It arises from a notice of deficiency for his 2014 and 2015 tax years. His 2016 and 2017 tax years have since been examined and the Commissioner has issued a notice of deficiency for those years as well. Mr. Risan is also the owner of a corporation, Media Rights Technologies, Inc. that itself has been audited for the 2016 and 2017 tax years. There's been a disjunction in the handling of the corporation's tax years, with the Commissioner issuing two notices of deficiency on two different dates. Petitioner has filed one petition and expects to file another for his corporation; he intends to file another petition to challenge respondent's determination for his individual 2016 and 2017 tax years.
All agree that there is a substantial overlap of issues among the years and taxpayers and that it makes sense to consolidate them all. Delays in processing pleadings at the Court has slown this down, but the Court agrees that getting them all assigned and consolidated makes sense.
There is one issue that puts the petitions for the 2014-2017 tax years for Mr. Risan in a special situation -- Mr. Risan has a plausible statute-of limitations argument for those years. The Commissioner acknowledges that he didn't meet the usual three-year deadline, but has a plausible counterargument that gross underreporting of income occurred that would stretch the statute to six years.
After speaking with the parties, all agreed it was most reasonable to press on two fronts--getting all the petitions and answers processed so that the Court can consolidate them as soon as issue is joined, but focusing informal discovery first on the gross-underreporting issue. This will require some back-and-forth on the Commissioner's bank-deposits analysis, hindered by the pandemic's effects on office work in northern California.
It is therefore
ORDERED that petitioner's September 20, 2021 motion for a continuance is granted in that this case is stricken from the Court's October 25, 2021 trial calendar for San Francisco, California. It is also
ORDERED that this division of the Court retains jurisdiction over this case. It is also
ORDERED that on or before January 7, 2022 the parties shall file a status report describing the procedural posture of the petitions filed for later years and the related corporation and their progress in informal discovery on the statute-of-limitations issue.