Opinion
17917-19
06-11-2021
Fadl A. Fares Petitioner v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Respondent
ORDER
MARK V. HOLMES, JUDGE
This case was on the January 25, 2021 Los Angeles, California trial calendar. The IRS had moved to dismiss the case for Mr. Fares's failure to work on pretrial preparation, but then Mr. Fares appeared at the calendar call. He had a reasonable explanation--a recent move--and promised to work toward settling the case. We decided to hold onto the IRS's motion and give the parties a chance to work together to settle. Respondent recently reported that this is kind of working -- the IRS's lawyer has asked for specific records to prove Mr. Fares's deductions and Mr. Fares has produced some. The IRS reports, however, that these are largely "petitioner's internal accounting, without backup documents showing receipts, proof of payment, etc."
These backup documents are the kind of business records that Mr. Fares needs to produce to persuade the IRS to settle his case or produce in court if the case goes to trial. Mr. Fares began his case in 2019 and, even with the pandemic and family obligations that take him abroad, it is unusual for there to be so little progress in a case for that long. The Court will therefore adopt the Commissioner's suggestion that it give Mr. Fares a deadline. It is
ORDERED that on or before September 13, 2021 Mr. Fares will deliver to respondent's counsel assigned to these cases all records that he believes substantiate his claimed income and deductions for the tax years at issue in this case. Any records that he does not deliver to the IRS will not be allowed into evidence in any trial of this case. It is also
ORDERED on or before October 13, 2021, the parties shall submit settlement documents or respondent shall file a status report describing any progress toward settlement or a narrowing of the issues to be tried in these cases, as well as a description of the progress in informal discovery.