Opinion
34180-21S
08-22-2022
TAMMY LOUISE BLASZAK, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
David Gustafson Judge.
Petitioner Tammy Louise Blaszak has filed document entitled "Request for Judicial Notice" (Doc. 29) on its cover page but entitled "Request For Judicial Notice and Court Ordered Joinder" on its first page. It seems best characterized as a motion for joinder.
In her filing Ms. Blaszak observes that Tax Court Rule 60(b) provides that "[t]he Commissioner shall be named the respondent" but that Section 7452 provides that in the Tax Court "[t]he Secretary shall be represented by the Chief Counsel". She therefore concludes that the Commissioner is not actually a necessary party and that the Secretary is a necessary party; and, citing Rule 19 ("Required Joinder of Parties") of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, she requests that the "Court join the Secretary" to this suit. However, the Internal Revenue Code defines "the Secretary" (the name used in section 7452) to mean "the Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate", sec. 7701(a)(11)(B) (emphasis added). Section 7803(a)(2) provides that the Commissioner's delegation from the Secretary presumptively includes "the power to ... administer, manage, conduct, direct, and supervise the execution and application of the internal revenue laws". Thus, the Commissioner is authorized by law to be a party to Tax Court suits as a delegate of the Secretary of the Treasury. Moreover, section 7803(b)(2)(B) provides that the Chief Counsel "represent[s] the Commissioner in cases before the Tax Court". It is therefore
ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall characterize Document 29 as petitioner's "Motion for Joinder". It is further
ORDERED that petitioner's motion for joinder is denied. 1