T.C. Memo. 1996-315
UNITED STATES TAX COURT
ROBERT W. ACKERMAN and PATRICIA A. ACKERMAN, Petitioners v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Docket No. 25498-87. Filed July 11, 1996.
Robert W. Ackerman and Patricia A. Ackerman, pro sese.
Andrew M. Winkler, for respondent.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
DAWSON, Judge: This case was assigned for trial to Special
Trial Judge John F. Dean pursuant to section 7443A(b) of the Code
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and Rules 180, 181, and 183.1 The Court agrees with and adopts
the opinion of the Special Trial Judge, which is set forth below.
OPINION OF THE SPECIAL TRIAL JUDGE
DEAN, Special Trial Judge: Respondent determined
deficiencies in, additions to, and increased interest on
petitioners' Federal income tax as follows:
Additions to Tax
Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec.
Year Deficiency1 6653(a)(1) 6653(a)(2) 6659 2
6661
1978 $30,342 $1,517.10 -- $8,315.40 $7,585.50
1979 20,794 1,039.70 -- 6,210.00 5,198.50
1981 25,168 1,258.40 50 percent of 7,550.40 6,292.00
interest due
on $25,168
1982 15,720 786.00 50 percent of 2,607.90 3,930.00
interest due
on 3$8,693
1
Sec. 6621(c) interest is determined to apply to the entire deficiency as
determined for each of the taxable years 1978, 1979, 1981, and 1982.
2
Sec. 6661 is asserted as an alternative to sec. 6659. In the
alternative, the addition is asserted as 25 percent of the underpayments of
$30,342, $20,794, $25,168, and $15,720 for the taxable years 1978, 1979, 1981,
and 1982, respectively.
3
This amount is taken from the partial copy of the notice of deficiency
attached to the petition. We note that this amount differs from the amount
listed in respondent's Trial Memorandum filed February 2, 1995.
Petitioners conceded on opening statement that they do not
dispute the accuracy of the deficiencies and additions to tax and
the interest on tax motivated transactions contained in the
statutory notice of deficiency, as modified by respondent's trial
1
Unless otherwise indicated, all section references are to
the Internal Revenue Code in effect for the years in issue. All
Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and
Procedure.
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memorandum. Accordingly, after concessions by respondent,2 the
only issue for decision is whether the deficiencies, additions to
tax, and increased interest contained in the subject notice of
deficiency were part of prior settlement agreements with
respondent.
There is no stipulation of facts in this case.3 The Court
relies only upon the pleadings, and the testimony and exhibits
admitted at trial. Petitioners were residing in Phoenix,
Arizona, at the time the petition was filed in this case. All
references to petitioner are to Dr. Robert W. Ackerman.
2
Respondent in her trial memorandum makes a number of
concessions. She concedes $4,048 of the adjustment to income for
tax year 1981 and $15,801 of the adjustment to income for tax
year 1982, now limiting her adjustments for those years to
$14,653 and $27,667, respectively.
With respect to the asserted additions to tax under sec.
6659, respondent concedes that the addition to tax for the year
1979 is $1,550.40 instead of $6,210, that the addition to tax for
the year 1981 is $4,676.40 instead of $7,550.40, and respondent
concedes that there is no addition to tax due for the year 1982
under sec. 6659.
In the alternative to the additions to tax under sec. 6659,
respondent has asserted additions to tax under sec. 6661 for the
years 1978, 1979, 1981, and 1982. She concedes that in the
alternative to the sec. 6659 additions to tax asserted for the
years 1981 and 1982, the additions to tax under sec. 6661 are
limited to $2,395 and $3,930, respectively.
3
Petitioner Robert W. Ackerman refused to agree to any
factual or documentary stipulations.
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Background
A complete copy of the statutory notice of deficiency is not
a part of the record in this case. Based upon the pleadings, we
find that the deficiencies, additions to tax, and the increased
rate of interest on underpayments of tax due to tax motivated
transactions result from deductions and credits taken by
petitioners as flow-through items from the 1981 partnership year
of "Carrington Equipment Associates".4
Petitioners argue that the issues in the present case were
settled and the taxes paid under prior agreements with the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Respondent's answer to
petitioners' argument is that any prior settlements with
petitioners covered matters other than those raised by the notice
of deficiency in this case.
The parties submitted as evidence at trial copies of 3 Forms
870-L(AD), "Settlement Agreement For Partnership Adjustments And
Affected Items". Each agreement is signed by petitioners and
dated January 2, 1990. The three settlement agreements relate
to: (a) "Barrister Equipment Associates, Series 83", for
partnership tax year 1982; (b) "Carrington Equipment Associates"
4
Paragraph 4(a) of the petition alleges that "All investment
tax credits were disallowed on Carrington Equipment Associates"
and should have been allowed. Paragraph 5 of the petition
alleges, and respondent admits in her answer that "It is our
information that this case is being tried under a test case on
the 1981 partnership of Carrington Equipment Associates".
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for partnership tax year 1983; and (c) "Barrister Equipment
Associates, Series 152", for partnership tax year 1984.
As best as we can determine from the submitted documents and
testimony, petitioners, sometime before May of 1991, had been
examined and assessed additional income taxes for the years 1979,
1980, 1982, 1983, and 1984. A handwritten "Record of Accounts"
attached to a note dated May 10, 1991, was sent to petitioners.
The document, prepared by an employee of respondent's Problem
Resolution Office, indicates the application of payments dated
September 12, 1990, to outstanding "audit assessments" as well as
unpaid interest for each of the above years. Petitioners had
made a $100,000 payment by check to the IRS and received a
receipt for payment of taxes dated September 12, 1990.
Petitioner testified that in addition to the $100,000 paid
in September of 1990, he later paid about $146,000 to IRS to
settle "all tax years * * * germane to the Barrister case."
Petitioner's testimony concerning this payment is corroborated by
a January 24, 1992, document prepared by a revenue officer,
indicating the receipt from petitioners of 2 checks totalling
$146,814.78. The document indicates that these funds were
applied to "assessed penalties and interest" and "accrued
penalties and interest" for the years 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, and
1984. Dr. Ackerman received a February 5, 1992, memorandum from
one of respondent's revenue officers stating that "All periods
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from 1978 to 1984 are in status 12 which indicates they are
closed and satisfied."
Discussion
Having conceded the accuracy of respondent's adjustments,
petitioners bear the burden of establishing their claim that the
issues in this case have been previously settled with respondent.
Rule 142(a); Welch v. Helvering, 290 U.S. 111, 115 (1933). That
task is exceedingly difficult here since none of petitioners' tax
returns for any of the years involved nor a complete copy of the
statutory notice of deficiency is in evidence.
The partnership settlement agreements
Petitioners' evidence and argument that the issues in this
case have been settled is answered by a statement made in Maxwell
v. Commissioner, 87 T.C. 783, 787 (1986). There the Court said:
"This case presents the dichotomy between, on the one hand, the
procedures applicable to the determination and redetermination of
deficiencies and, on the other hand, the procedures applicable to
the administrative adjustment and judicial readjustment of
partnership items." (Emphasis in original).
As is described in further detail in Maxwell, prior to the
enactment of special partnership audit and litigation procedures,
any deficiency determination involving the income, loss,
deduction, or credit of a partnership was made for each partner
along with all other items on the partner's individual Federal
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income tax return. Judicial review of respondent's deficiency
determination was restricted to the particular partner before the
Court.
The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982
(TEFRA), Pub. L. 97-248, sec. 402(a), 96 Stat. 324, 648, enacting
the Tax Treatment of Partnership Items Act of 1982, changed this
procedure. Under the TEFRA partnership audit and litigation
procedures, Congress provided a method that did not determine a
partner's tax liability on an individual basis: "The tax
treatment of any partnership item shall be determined at the
partnership level." Sec. 6221. The provisions of TEFRA,
however, are effective only for partnership years beginning after
its date of enactment, September 3, 1982, and to any partnership
year ending after that date if the partnership, each partner, and
each indirect partner requests such application and the Secretary
or his delegate consents to such application. TEFRA sec. 407, 96
Stat. 670-671
All of the settlement agreements signed by petitioners
contain a statement that they are entered into under the
provisions of section 6224(c).5 Under section 6224(c)(1), a
settlement agreement is binding on the parties to the agreement
5
Sec. 6224(c) is part of the Tax Treatment of Partnership
Items Act of 1982 in TEFRA, Pub. L. 97-248, 96 Stat. 648-669,
enacting secs. 6221-6232.
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"with respect to the determination of partnership items for any
partnership taxable year." (Emphasis supplied.) The three
settlement agreements in evidence are for partnership items for
partnership taxable years 1982, 1983, and 1984. The partnership
at issue in the agreement for 1982 is not "Carrington Equipment
Associates" but "Barrister Equipment Associates, Series 83."
Respondent's notice of deficiency in this case is with
reference to deductions and credits claimed on petitioners'
income tax returns as flow-through items from the 1981
partnership taxable year of Carrington Equipment Associates, a
partnership taxable year that is not subject to the TEFRA
procedures or the settlement agreements previously described.
Therefore the settlement agreements relied upon by petitioner did
not settle the issues that are the subject of this deficiency
proceeding.
Petitioners' settlement of partnership taxable items for the
years 1982, 1983, and 1984 may have affected their tax
liabilities for prior years due to the disallowance of loss
carrybacks. But that does not prohibit respondent from making a
further examination for those years for other income tax
adjustments. See Digby v. Commissioner, 103 T.C. 441, 447
(1994). Further, the mere fact that a revenue officer of
respondent, responsible for collecting assessed taxes, sends a
letter to a taxpayer stating that he is "paid in full" for a
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particular year does not foreclose the assessment of additional
taxes for that year. Dorl v. Commissioner, 507 F.2d 406 (2d Cir.
1974), affg. T.C. Memo. 1973-145.
Based on the record, we hold that petitioners have failed to
carry their burden of proving that the TEFRA settlement
agreements for partnership years 1982, 1983, and 1984 also
effected settlement of the deficiencies determined with respect
to petitioners' 1978, 1979, 1981, and 1982 returns relating to
the Carrington Equipment Associates 1981 partnership year.
To reflect our conclusion with respect to the only disputed
issue and the concessions made by the parties,
Decision will be entered
under Rule 155.