Opinion
17463-22
10-05-2022
MICHAEL T. HUBER, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER OF DISMISSAL FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION
Kathleen Kerrigan Chief Judge
The petition underlying the above-docketed proceeding was filed on August 9, 2022, and taxable year 2020 was referenced as the period in contention. No notices of deficiency or determination issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) were attached to the submissions, nor were any other IRS communications. The statements in the petition appeared to center on complaints pertaining to entitlement to claim children as dependents.
On September 30, 2022, respondent filed a Motion To Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction, on the ground that no notice of deficiency, as authorized by section 6212 and required by section 6213(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) to form the basis for a petition to this Court, had been sent to petitioner with respect to taxable year 2020, nor had respondent made any other determination with respect to petitioner's 2020 tax year that would confer jurisdiction on the Court, as of the date the petition herein was filed. Respondent further explained that although petitioner's 2020 year had been audited, such audit had not closed until September 1, 2022. Thus, no notice of deficiency could yet have been issued by time the August 2022 petition was submitted.
This Court is a court of limited jurisdiction. It may therefore exercise jurisdiction only to the extent expressly provided by statute. Breman v. Commissioner, 66 T.C. 61, 66 (1976). In a case seeking the redetermination of a deficiency, the jurisdiction of the Court depends, in part, on the issuance by the Commissioner of a valid notice of deficiency to the taxpayer. Rule 13(c), Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure; Frieling v. Commissioner, 81 T.C. 42, 46 (1983). The notice of deficiency has been described as "the taxpayer's ticket to the Tax Court" because without it, there can be no prepayment judicial review by this Court of the deficiency determined by the Commissioner. Mulvania v. Commissioner, 81 T.C. 65, 67 (1983).
Similarly, this Court's jurisdiction in a case seeking review of a determination concerning collection action under section 6320 or 6330, I.R.C., depends, in part, upon the issuance of a valid notice of determination by the IRS Office of Appeals under section 6320 or 6330, I.R.C. Secs. 6320(c) and 6330(d)(1), I.R.C.; Rule 330(b), Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure; Offiler v. Commissioner, 114 T.C. 492 (2000). A condition precedent to the issuance of a notice of determination is the requirement that a taxpayer have requested a hearing before the IRS Office of Appeals in reference to an underlying Notice of Federal Tax Lien Filing and Your Right to a Hearing Under IRC 6320, Final Notice of Intent To Levy and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing (or the equivalent Notice CP90, Intent to seize your assets and notice of your right to a hearing, depending on the version of the form used), or analogous post-levy notice of hearing rights under section 6330(f), I.R.C. (e.g., a Notice of Levy on Your State Tax Refund and Notice of Your Right to a Hearing).
Other types of IRS notice which may form the basis for a petition to the Tax Court, likewise under statutorily prescribed parameters, include a Notice of Final Determination Concerning Your Request for Relief From Joint and Several Liability, a Notice of Final Determination Not To Abate Interest, a Notice of Determination of Worker Classification, Notice of Certification of Your Seriously Delinquent Federal Tax Debt to the State Department, or a Notice of Final Determination Concerning Whistleblower Action. No pertinent claims involving section 6015, 6404(h), 7436, 7345, or 7623, I.R.C., respectively, have been implicated here. Similarly absent is any suggestion that the perquisites have been met to support one of the statutorily described declaratory judgment actions that may be undertaken by the Court.
Petitioner was served with copy of respondent's motion and on October 3, 2022, filed an objection. Therein, petitioner did not directly counter the jurisdictional allegations set forth in respondent's motion, i.e., petitioner did not show that the IRS had sent a relevant notice of deficiency or determination or any other jurisdictional notice for 2020 prior to the filing of the petition in this case. Instead, petitioner claimed that he had received a notice of deficiency in August but did not have a copy. However, additional statements indicated that petitioner may be interpreting "notice of deficiency" broadly to include one or more of "several documents" he received seeking changes to his return. A notice of deficiency in August would be an impossibility in any event, as the 2020 audit did not close until September 1, 2022. The objection also alluded to efforts by petitioner to resolve the 2020 tax matters administratively with the IRS and frustrations encountered therein. Petitioner also referenced financial challenges and hardships attendant to his current homeless living situation.
Thus, the record at this juncture suggests that petitioner may have sought the assistance of the Court after having become frustrated with administrative actions by the IRS and any attempts to work with the agency but that the petition here was not based upon or instigated by a specific IRS notice expressly providing petitioner with the right to contest a particular IRS determination in this Court at the time the petition was filed. Critically, none of the communications reflected in the record of this case constitutes, or can substitute for, a notice of deficiency issued pursuant to 6212, I.R.C., a notice of determination issued pursuant to sections 6320 and/or 6330, I.R.C., or any other of the narrow class of specified determinations by the IRS that can open the door to the Tax Court for purposes of this case, as of the date the pet ition herein wa s filed. To the contrary, petitioner's apparently expansive view of the Court's authority fails to comport with the limited nature of the jurisdiction set forth in the statutory parameters set forth above. Moreover, while a notice of deficiency may have been issued to petitioner after the August 2022 petition or could still be issued to petitioner with respect to 2020 and would then constitute a proper jurisdictional prerequisite, it nonetheless could not retroactively validate a petition over which the Court had no basis for jurisdiction at the time originally filed. Stated otherwise, because that notice would have been issued after the petition was filed on August 9, 2022, the Court would be unable to exercise jurisdiction to consider the new notice in the existing case.
In conclusion then, while the Court is sympathetic to petitioner's situation and understands the challenges of the circumstances faced and the good faith efforts made, the Court on the present record lacks jurisdiction in this case to review any action (or inaction) by respondent in regard to petitioner's taxes. Congress has granted the Tax Court no authority to afford any remedy in the circumstances evidenced by this proceeding, regardless of the merits of petitioner's complaints. A new and separate petition would need to be filed by petitioner within the appropriate time frame for any notice of deficiency issued after this petition at Docket No. 17463-22 was filed.
The premises considered, it is
ORDERED that respondent's Motion To Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction is granted, and this case is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. It is further
ORDERED that the Motion To Proceed Remotely filed August 10, 2022, by petitioner is denied as moot.