Opinion
11908-20L
09-03-2021
Elmahdi Soubari Petitioner v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Respondent
ORDER
MARK V. HOLMES JUDGE
This case is on the Court's May 24, 2021 trial calendar for New York City. Although it concerns tax collection, Mr. Soubari wants the IRS to consider whether he even owes the tax it says he does. What makes it complicated is that his argument is that the IRS didn't properly file his married-filing-separately return, but instead a joint return that his wife signed his name to. This might, to use the tax-law terms, not be a "challenge to his liability" but rather a flaw in the assessment of the tax. Mr. Soubari has since retrieved copies of the separate returns that he says he filed.
The notice of determination that the IRS sent him doesn't discuss this problem at all. In today's phone call, both he and the IRS's lawyer agreed that he deserves to have someone look into his story. When a case begins with a "notice of determination" that first look into his story usually has to be IRS Appeals, with Tax Court reviewing the IRS's work.
That means that we need to send the case back to the IRS to have it take this first look. It may agree with Mr. Soubari, and that would mean he wins. But even if it doesn't agree with him, Tax Court would be available for him to review the IRS's new determination. As the Court explained to the parties, it will treat today's conversation as including an oral motion to send the case back (or "remand" it) to the IRS. It is therefore
ORDERED that this case is remanded to IRS Appeals for a supplemental hearing before an Appeals officer who has not communicated with respondent's counsel in this case. It is also
ORDERED that on or before December 2, 2021 respondent issue a supplemental notice of determination or respondent file a status report to describe the IRS's progress.
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