Opinion
26157-21L
01-20-2023
MICHAEL T. GIBSON, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
Mark V. Holmes, Judge
This collection due process case is on the Court's March 6, 2023 trial calendar for Dallas, Texas. We had already continued the case once before and on January 3, 2023 the parties moved to continue it again. We spoke with them today to discuss the apparent lack of progress in a case in which the notice of determination is based on petitioner's alleged failure to be current on his tax returns and supply financial information to IRS Appeals during the hearing.
We learned that the IRS has been part of the problem - it couldn't find the administrative file in the case for months after petitioner asked for it. It now can't find a civil-penalty approval form that may or may not exist because of the agency's transition to Microsoft Edge. And that penalty form may or may not be relevant under current section 6751 law. Compare Chadwick v. Commissioner, 154 T.C. 84 (2020) (supervisory approval required for imposition of trust fund recovery penalties) with Laidlaw's Harley Davidson, Inc. v. Commissioner, 29 F.4th 1066 (9th Cir. 2022) (approval may not be required until before assessment).
After some discussion, all agreed that the probability of settlement or productive motions practice would be furthered if petitioner had some time to make sure he was current in his filing obligations and supplied respondent with up-to-date financial information, and if respondent finally overcame the technological obstacles to retrieving his own important records in this case. It is therefore
ORDERED that the parties' January 3, 2023 motion for a continuance is granted in that this case is stricken from the Court's March 6, 2023 trial calendar for Dallas, Texas. It is also
ORDERED that this division of the Court retains jurisdiction. It is also
ORDERED that on or before May 26, 2023 the parties shall file a status report describing their progress, including progress in record retrieval and in making sure petitioner meets at least the threshold requirements of financial disclosure and filing compliance that will be needed to settle the case.