Comments Please (9/26/24)

I have eliminated the past comment tool (Disqus) which proved to be so daunting to readers of the blog who tried to make comments. I have returned to the comment tool provided by Blogger/Blogspot which is the blog tool that I have used since the inception of the blog. The Blogger/Blogspot comment tool seems to be better than it formerly was when I moved to Disqus. In any event, it is much easier to post comments, so I urge those wanting to comment and engage in discussions of the issues presented in the blogs to do so. Comments can provide a useful learning experience for those commenting and those reading the comments and discussion.

I urge readers to review the page to the right titled Guides to Use and Posting of Comments (9/26/24), here. As noted on that page, I moderate the comments, meaning that I read the comments prior to approving them to appear publicly on the particular blog entry. I plan to approve comments liberally, weeding out only comments that are not appropriate under the Guides to Use.

Thank you,

Jack Townsend 

Court Cannot Determine on Motion to Dismiss Malpractice and Related Claims from Bullshit Tax Shelter that the Statute of Limitations from 1997 Was Not Tolled (9/24/24)

In Cáceres v. Sidley Austin LLP (N. D. GA No 1:23-cv-00844 Dkt # 35 Opinion & Order dated 9/17/24), TN here and CL here, the Court denied the motion to dismiss filed by Sidley Austin (“Sidley,” the giant law firm, here). The Cáceres engaged R.J. Ruble, then a partner at the predecessor firm of Brown & Wood, to opine about a 1997 Midco transaction, an abusive tax shelter transaction in which the Cáceres sought to avoid the double tax upon sale of their corporate business. For an explanation of the Midco transaction, see FTP Practitioner Edition pp. 797-798 and Student Edition p. 537; and for Federal Tax Procedure Blog discussions of Midco transactions, here. Basically, tax shelter promoters use a variety of abusive techniques to avoid the built-in corporate level gain and then the sellers and the promoters share the tax thus illegally evaded, leaving the IRS without the tax. Usually, the promoters use a bullshit tax shelter to try to shield the corporate level tax, and when that tax shelter is denied, there is no money to pay the tax, requiring the IRS to seek the tax from third party such as the Cáceres.

At the motion to dismiss stage, the well-pled pleadings are analyzed to see if they pled sufficiently that, if the allegations and claims are true, a case had been stated. (This is before any factual development by discovery and cannot consider facts outside the complaint that a party may know; it is just a test of the sufficiency of the complaint.) The issue on the motion to dismiss was whether on the facts pled the statute of limitations barred the suit. The underlying transactions (including the legal opinion) were in 1997; this particular suit was brought in state court in 2023 and removed to federal court in 2023. Various claims in the complaint had statutes of limitations that were much shorter than the 20+ years that intervened from the 1997 accrual of the actions claim in the complaint. The question was whether, on the facts pled and claims made, the relevant statutes of limitations were tolled because of Sidley’s actions in hiding its alleged misconduct. The Court held that, on the facts pled, it could not determine that the statute of limitations had not tolled, so the case survived the motion to dismiss.

Perhaps the key fact was the IRS commencement in 2018 of a transferee liability suit under § 6901 against the plaintiffs as shareholders wrongfully sharing the corporate-level tax illegally avoided. See United States v. Henco Holding Corp., 985 F. 3d 1290 (11^th Cir. 2021), here. (Of course, significant audit commotion would have likely preceded for years the filing of the transferee liability suit, but the issue was whether on the facts pled,  the plaintiffs had been fairly put on notice as to the causes of action at a time outside the limitations period.) As described by the Court, the Cáceres alleged (Slip Op. 14-15)

11th Circuit on Third Consideration Seals FBAR Willful Penalty Except for Relatively Small Amount Held Excessive Fine under 8th Amendment (9/4/24)

In United States v. Schwarzbaum, ___ F.4th ___ (11th Cir. 2024), 11Cir here and GS here, the Court:

(1)  (a) held the FBAR civil willful penalties are “fines” within the meaning of the Eighth Amendment; (b) held the minimum $100,000 penalties applying to Schwarzbaum’s accounts with small amounts (those $16,000 or less) are disproportional and excessive; (c) held the penalties on the accounts with significantly larger amounts are not disproportional and thus not excessive; and (d) remanded to the district court to determine the effect of the $300,000 reduction required by the (1)(b) holding.

(2)   (a) rejected Schwarzbaum’s attack that, in a prior appeal, the court held the assessment was “arbitrary and capricious” and thus rendered the assessments invalid from inception; instead holding that the prior holding was that the assessment was “not in accordance with law,” a different standard under APA § 706(2)(A), requiring a remand to the IRS to fix the calculation mistake rather than wipe out the assessments; (b) rejected a related statute of limitations argument that the remand required a new out of time assessment, holding the issue had been decided against Schwarzbaum in an earlier appeal; (c) sustained a lower assessment rather than the correct assessment which would have been higher; and (d) held the district court properly remanded the case to the IRS and retained jurisdiction of the case to consider after the IRS recalculated the penalties.

The unanimous opinion is quite long (53 pages) and offers a lot of interesting discussion of the history of the FBAR penalties. Those relatively new to the subject, can learn from reading the opinion closely. Those who are veterans to the subject can probably skim through the opinion and understand the holdings.

JAT Comments:

9th Circuit 3-Judge Panel Has Three Different Interpretations Illustrating the Stupidity of Loper Bright's Rejection of Deference (9/3/24; 9/7/24)

In Brown v. Commissioner, 116 F.4th 861  (9th Cir. 2024), CA9 here & GS here, the Court rejected Brown’s claim that his offer in compromise had been statutorily eemed accepted under § 7122(f) because, he claimed, the IRS had not rejected the offer within 24-months of the date of the offer. Brown’s claim would have permitted him to settle $50 million+ tax liability for a bare fraction.

 Section 7122(f) provides:

(f) Deemed acceptance of offer not rejected within certain period
Any offer-in-compromise submitted under this section shall be deemed to be accepted by the Secretary if such offer is not rejected by the Secretary before the date which is 24 months after the date of the submission of such offer. For purposes of the preceding sentence, any period during which any tax liability which is the subject of such offer-in-compromise is in dispute in any judicial proceeding shall not be taken into account in determining the expiration of the 24-month period.

The Tax Court held that, under the facts, the offer had been rejected within the 24-month period. The Court of Appeals, in a 3-way split opinion (more below) held that Brown loses on the issue, with two judges reaching the result by different interpretations of the law and the dissenting judge reaching a contrary result (Brown wins) on a different interpretation. In other words, all the judges differed in their interpretations of the applicable law, but 2 interpretations favored the IRS and one favored Brown. Brown loses.