Tax Court Opinion on Various Aspects of Collection Activity for RBAs and Coordination with DOJ (1/28/21)

 In Reynolds v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2021-10, TC Dkt entry #20 here * and TN here, in a collection due process (“CDP”) case, the Court (Judge Thornton) discussed restitution-based assessment (“RBA”) under § 6201(a)(4).  In the prior criminal case preceding, the sentencing judge (i) imposed tax restitution of $193,812, but waived interest on the restitution based on a finding that the Reynolds could not pay; (ii) ordered payments during imprisonment of $25 per quarter and during supervised release of the greater of $100 or 10% of his monthly income; and (iii) ordered that Reynolds apply income tax refunds and “anticipated or unexpected financial gains.”

The IRS made the RBA in the amount of $193,812 restitution and also assessed interest for the period.  The IRS audited the years 2002 and 2003 and determined deficiencies and civil fraud penalty.  Reynolds petitioned the Tax Court to redetermine the deficiencies.  The decision document reduced the deficiencies and assessed the civil fraud penalty but noted (Slip Op. 5 n. 2) that the civil fraud penalty had been discharged in a bankruptcy proceeding (although there is no further explanation).

In this CDP case, Reynolds complained about the IRS’s collection activity with regard to the RBA.  I will just bullet point some of the key discussion / holdings rather than have a further narrative.

• The opinion discusses the IRS Collection Advisory Group’s role in RBAs which interfaces with IRS Collections.  The opinion describes this group (Slip Op. 6 n 2): 

The IRS Collection Advisory Group coordinates and monitors probation and restitution cases; the advisor serves as a liaison for coordinating such cases with IRS field offices and the Department of Justice (DOJ). See Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) pt. 5.1.5.16 (Oct. 6, 2017); IRM pt. 5.19.23.1(5) (Oct. 27, 2017); IRM pt. 25.26.1.5.2 (Mar. 24, 2014). 

• The opinion discusses the Revenue Officers’ collection activity over a number of years in some detail, mostly after the NFTL.

• Reynolds attorneys apparently believed that once an RBA was made, only the IRS could collect.  However, the IRS position was that there were two separate debts:  the restitution debt that DOJ’s financial unit can collect; and the RBA that the IRS can collect.  Of course, to the extent that restitution and RBA are the same, payments against one are credited against the other so that there is not double payment.  But, DOJ and the IRS can proceed on separate tracks to collect, although there must be some coordination.

• The IRS and the Reynolds tilted during much of the period over Reynolds’ ability to pay more than he was paying.  In the final analysis, the IRS concluded that "this appeal is being maintained primarily for delay."  (Slip Op. 17.)

• The IRS eliminated the restitution interest and failure to pay penalties per Klein v. Commissioner, 149 T.C. 341 (2017 ).

Restitution Based Assessment--Some Issues of Interest (8/3/19; 8/7/19)

Readers of this blog will likely be interested in a recent post on Procedurally Taxing Blog:  Keith Fogg, Interest and Penalties on Restitution-Based Assessments (Procedurally Taxing Blog 7/31/19).  Highly recommended.  The context is the relationship between restitution as ordered by the court in a criminal case and the restitution based assessment that the IRS is mandated to make, particularly as related to interest on the restitution.

After some emailing with Keith, I thought I would add some related material and comments that readers of this blog might find interesting or useful.

1.  The amount of the restitution can include an interest factor from the date of the loss through the date of the restitution order by judgment in the criminal case.  The DOJ Criminal Tax Manual thus says:  "Prosecutors should seek prejudgment Title 26 interest in restitution in order to fully compensate the IRS."  DOJ CTM 44.00 RESTITUTION IN CRIMINAL TAX CASES (last edited January 2019), here.

The U.S. Attorneys Manual (now called Justice Manual after renaming in 2018) had a template in the Tax Resource Manual that would include interest under 6601 and/or 6621 in the restitution order as of the date of sentencing.

• https://www.justice.gov/archives/usam/tax-resource-manual-20-optional-restitution-paragraphs
• https://www.justice.gov/archives/usam/tax-resource-manual-21-proposed-restitution-order

The Tax Resource Manual seems to have dropped off the current Manual (called the Justice Manual), although the prior Tax Resource Manual is still available per the links above.  (Perhaps it will be added back later.)  So, diligent US Attorneys should be aware of it.  And, of course, DOJ Tax CES attorneys should be aware of the CTM provision.  And, since the IRS makes the calculations, the IRS agents should be aware of as well.  (By contrast, interest is not included on tax loss for Sentencing Guidelines purposes except in the case of evasion of payment, when interest was included in the amount the defendant sought to evade.)

My understanding, though, is that courts sometimes (perhaps even often) do not include interest in restitution.  (See discussion of recent case in paragraph 3 below.)

2.  I have just updated the text and a footnote in the working draft of my Federal Tax Procedure Book (will be published on SSRN by mid-August 2019) dealing with some of the nuance.  Here is a cut and paste of the text and the key text amd footnote: