Opinion
16998-21
09-30-2022
CHRISTOPHER CORBETT & ANNE MARIE CORBETT, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER AND DECISION
David Gustafson Judge.
Now before us is the Commissioner's motion (Doc. 13) for entry of decision, to which petitioners have not responded. We will grant the motion and enter decision.
This is a deficiency case brought pursuant to section 6213(a), in which petitioners challenge a notice of deficiency (Doc. 1, Ex. A) in which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determined for 2018 a deficiency of $12,674 in income tax, plus an accuracy-related penalty of $2,535. This case was scheduled for trial at a session of the Tax Court in Boston beginning June 6, 2022, but the case was taken off the calendar of that session after the Commissioner filed a status report (Doc. 9), which stated that the parties had reached a basis of settlement, under which the deficiency was reduced to $127. We ordered "that, no later than July 1, 2022, the parties shall file a status report or another appropriate filing if, by that date, they have not already filed a proposed stipulated decision." (See Doc. 10.) On July 1, 2022, the Commissioner filed a status report (Doc. 11), which stated that petitioners were not communicating about the case. On July 25, 2022, we ordered (see Doc. 12) "that, immediately upon receipt of this order, and in any event no later than August 5, 2022, petitioners shall telephone (at 202-521-0850) the Chambers Administrator of the judge signing this order for the purpose of scheduling a prompt telephone conference among the Court and parties." Petitioners did not comply with the order.
On August 8, 2022, the Commissioner filed a motion for entry of decision (Doc. 13), which reported that petitioners continued to fail to communicate and moved "that the Court enter a decision in this case in accordance with the attached proposed decision document", which was alleged to be consistent with the basis of settlement reached by the parties. By order of August 15, 2022, we ordered petitioners to file a response to the Commissioner's motion by September 9, 2022, and we stated:" If petitioners fail to file a response, then we expect to grant the Commissioner's motion." As of this date, the Court has not received a response from petitioners. It is
ORDERED that the Commissioner's motion for entry of decision is granted. It is further
ORDERED AND DECIDED that, for the year 2018, there is due from petitioners a deficiency of income tax in the amount of $127, and a penalty of zero.