Opinion
16224-14L
10-06-2021
MARTIN G. PLOTKIN, Petitioner v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Respondent
ORDER
Richard T. Morrison, Judge.
On February 3, 2021, the Court remanded this case to respondent's Office of Appeals for a supplemental hearing to be held on or before April 30, 2021. The order required the parties to file status reports on or before June 1, 2021. However, the order did not set a specific deadline for the Office of Appeals to issue a supplemental notice of determination.
On June 1, 2021, respondent filed the status report required by the February 3, 3021 Order. In the status report, respondent stated that (1) his Office of Appeals had scheduled a telephonic hearing on remand but (2) petitioner had explained to the Office of Appeals that his speech impediments prevented him from participating in a telephonic hearing and requested that the remand hearing should be conducted entirely by correspondence. The status report stated that if the remand hearing were to be conducted entirely by correspondence, then the Office of Appeals would request additional time for petitioner to submit additional information he would like the Office of Appeals to consider and so respondent would request that the Office of Appeals have until July 29, 2021, to issue the supplemental notice of determination.
On July 7, 2021, the Court ordered that respondent's Office of Appeals issue a supplemental determination by July 29, 2021.
By motion signed July 14, 2021, petitioner asked the Court to extend by at least 60 days the July 29, 2021 deadline for issuing the supplemental notice of determination. Petitioner explained that he had been prevented from participating in the remand hearing by "Covid-19 delays experienced by the USPS, and the inability of the Internal Revenue Service to deliver to addressees on a timely basis the mail it received at its independent processing center." The July 14, 2021 motion was not filed by the Court until August 16, 2021. As a result, the July 14, 2021 motion was not accessible to the Undersigned Judge until August 16, 2021.
On July 27, 2021, the Court filed petitioner's first supplement to motion for reconsideration of the Court's July 7, 2021 Order and for extension of time for respondent to comply with the Court's February 3, 2021 Order. The supplement was signed on July 23, 2021.
On July 29, 2021, the IRS issued a supplemental notice of determination. (This notice was later filed with the Court as an attachment to respondent's August 16, 2021 status report, as discussed below.)
On August 9, 2021, the Court filed petitioner's second supplement to motion for reconsideration of the Court's July 7, 2021 Order and for extension of time for respondent to comply with the Court's February 3, 2021 Order. The supplement was signed on August 2, 2021.
On August 16, 2021, the Court filed petitioner's motion for reconsideration of the Court's July 7, 2021 Order and for extension of time for respondent to comply with the Court's February 3, 2021 Order. This is the motion discussed above that was signed on July 14, 2021. The Court did not file the motion until after his first and second supplements to the motion were filed and until after the expiration of the July 29, 2021 deadline for the Office of Appeals to issue the supplemental notice of determination (the deadline the motion sought to extend).
On August 16, 2021, the IRS filed a status report attaching the notice of supplemental determination dated July 29, 2021.
On August 16, 2021, the Court filed petitioner's "Motion for the Court to order Respondent to withdraw the supplemental notice of determination issued by his office of appeals on July 29, 2021 in order to allow the Court to consider and rule on petitioner's motion dated July 14, 2021 received by the Tax Court on July 19, 2021 but not docketed and presented to this Court". This motion relates to the delay in filing petitioner's July 14, 2021 motion for reconsideration of the Court's July 7, 2021 Order and for extension of time for respondent to comply with the Court's February 3, 2021 Order. We will deny this August 16, 2021 motion as moot in light of our disposition of petitioner's July 14, 2021 motion set forth below.
Petitioner's July 14, 2021 motion was aimed at postponing the then-pending July 29, 2021 deadline for issuing the supplemental notice of determination. The Court did not act on the July 14, 2021 motion by the time the Office of Appeals issued its supplemental notice of determination on July 29, 2021. The deadline having now passed, and the supplemental notice of determination having now been issued, the Court will assume the motion had merit and will impose a new deadline for the Office of Appeals to issue a new, second supplemental, notice of determination regarding the remand. To account for any future mailing delays and to account for petitioner's physical infirmities affecting his ability to communicate orally and by correspondence, this deadline will be 120 days from today's date. We will therefore grant petitioner's motion for reconsideration of the Court's July 7, 2021 Order and for extension of time for respondent to comply with the Court's February 3, 2021 Order, as supplemented.
Given the foregoing, it is
ORDERED that petitioner's motion for reconsideration of the Court's July 7, 2021 Order and for extension of time for respondent to comply with the Court's February 3, 2021 Order, as supplemented is granted. It is further
ORDERED that petitioner's August 16, 2021 motion is denied as moot. It is further
ORDERED that respondent's Office of Appeals shall issue to petitioner a second supplemental notice of determination by February 2, 2022. It is further
ORDERED that the parties will, on or before March 21, 2022, file reports reflecting the then-present status of this case. Respondent's report will attach a copy of the supplemental notice of determination.