Tax Refund – Lack of Jurisdiction

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Ronald Goldberg, et al. v. United States of America

Case No.: 16-3032

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and RIPPLE and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Tax Refund – Lack of Jurisdiction

Plaintiffs Ronald M. Goldberg, Sherwin Geitner, and Phillip C. Leavitt failed to pay federal income taxes they owed for a business partnership for the year 1994. After a criminal investigation touched that partnership, these plaintiffs reached a civil settlement with the Internal Revenue Service in 2003 by agreeing to pay back taxes. Nearly ten years later, however, they filed this suit seeking to invalidate the settlement and to collect other damages by claiming the IRS violated the tax code in assessing their tax liability. Plaintiffs seek relief in the form of both claims for refund under 26 U.S.C. § 7422 and claims for damages under 26 U.S.C. § 7433. The district court granted the government’s motion to dismiss. The court dismissed the refund claims on the pleadings for lack of jurisdiction for failure to exhaust administrative remedies with the IRS. The court dismissed the claims for damages, also on the pleadings, because they alleged IRS errors only in assessing taxes, not in collecting them, so that the claims fall outside the scope of § 7433, which is limited to errors in collecting taxes. We affirm.

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.