Opinion
10661-20
02-10-2022
Stephen Parascandola & Kelle Lynne Keller Petitioners v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Respondent
ORDER AND DECISION
David Gustafson, Judge
This case was set for trial at the Court's Winston-Salem, North Carolina, trial session beginning February 7, 2022, pursuant to our notice of trial and standing pretrial order served September 23, 2021 (Docs. 8-9). On January 11, 2022, the Commissioner filed a motion (Doc.10) to dismiss this case for lack of prosecution. The Commissioner's motion alleged that petitioners have not provided sufficient information to support their claims, and that they have been slow to respond to the Commissioner's requests. In the motion, the Commissioner moves the Court to enter a decision in the amount of the deficiency originally determined for 2017 (but concedes an accuracy related penalty determined in the notice of deficiency). By order of January 12, 2022 (Doc. 11), we ordered petitioners to respond. They failed to comply with this order.
When this case was called from the calendar on February 7, 2022, Mr. Parascandola appeared. He apologized for petitioners' lack of communication. He explained that, after he had filed the petition, he obtained from the Commissioner information that caused him to conclude that the IRS's notice of deficiency that was challenged in the petition was correct. He stated that he appeared at the calendar call as a matter of courtesy, lest he seem to be disregarding the Court's notice of trial. The Court thanked him and stated that, given petitioners' position, the Court would grant the Commissioner's motion to dismiss, sustaining the deficiency determination. Mr. Parascandola made no objection. It is therefore
ORDERED that the Commissioner's motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute is granted. It is further
ORDERED AND DECIDED that for the year 2017 there is a tax deficiency, as set forth in the notice of deficiency dated March 23, 2020, due from petitioners in the amount of $123,611.00, that there is also an addition to tax due from the petitioners under I.R.C. § 6651(a)(1) in the amount of $12,030.00, and that there is zero penalty due from the petitioners under section 6662(a).