Subject Matter Jurisdiction – Tax

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Kerry Adolphson v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Case No.: 15-2242

Officials: FLAUM, MANION, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge

Focus: Subject Matter Jurisdiction – Tax

This is a difficult tax case made more so by the refusal of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to engage the taxpayer’s arguments or the tax court’s decision. Kerry Adolphson, who has failed to file a tax re‐ turn since at least 2002, challenges levies used by the IRS to collect his unpaid taxes. The tax court dismissed his petition for lack of subject‐matter jurisdiction because Adolphson had not challenged the levies administratively, see 26 U.S.C. § 6330(d), and, therefore, lacked the requisite notice of de‐ termination from the IRS Office of Appeals.

Adolphson contends that because the IRS prevented him from obtaining a notice of determination by failing to properly notify him of its intent to levy, the tax court should have declared the levies invalid. To support his argument, Adolphson relies on a line of cases where the tax court accepted this argument and invalidated levies despite the fact that absent a notice of determination, the tax court lacks the statutory authority to hear a taxpayer’s claim. While we agree with Adolphson that his case is indistinguishable from this line of tax court precedent, we affirm the judgment dismissing Adolphson’s petition because we find that those decisions are unsound and reflect an improper extension of the tax court’s jurisdiction.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.