Judges: WHERRY,COLVIN,HALPERN,VASQUEZ,THORNTON,PARIS,COHEN,GUSTAFSON,MORRISON,GOEKE,KROUPA,HOLMES
Attorneys: Edward M. Robbins, Jr. , for petitioners. James A. Kutten , for respondent.
Filed: Dec. 27, 2011
Latest Update: Nov. 21, 2020
Summary: RANDALL J. AND KAREN G. THOMPSON, PETITIONERS v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT Docket No. 30586–08. Filed December 27, 2011. On the basis of a final decision in a partnership-level pro- ceeding for RJT Investments X, LLC, which had made all partnership allocations for its tax year ended Dec. 31, 2001, to P–H, R determined an income tax deficiency and an accuracy-related penalty for Ps’ 2001 tax year. Immediately after issuing a notice of deficiency to Ps, R directly assessed the d
Summary: RANDALL J. AND KAREN G. THOMPSON, PETITIONERS v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT Docket No. 30586–08. Filed December 27, 2011. On the basis of a final decision in a partnership-level pro- ceeding for RJT Investments X, LLC, which had made all partnership allocations for its tax year ended Dec. 31, 2001, to P–H, R determined an income tax deficiency and an accuracy-related penalty for Ps’ 2001 tax year. Immediately after issuing a notice of deficiency to Ps, R directly assessed the de..
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RANDALL J. AND KAREN G. THOMPSON, PETITIONERS
v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE,
RESPONDENT
Docket No. 30586–08. Filed December 27, 2011.
On the basis of a final decision in a partnership-level pro-
ceeding for RJT Investments X, LLC, which had made all
partnership allocations for its tax year ended Dec. 31, 2001,
to P–H, R determined an income tax deficiency and an
accuracy-related penalty for Ps’ 2001 tax year. Immediately
after issuing a notice of deficiency to Ps, R directly assessed
the deficiency and penalty amounts determined in that notice.
R has since acknowledged errors in these deficiency and pen-
alty amounts and has made corresponding assessment abate-
ments. Nonetheless, R argues that the notice of deficiency is
invalid and that the Court lacks jurisdiction over the case
because the changes to Ps’ 2001 tax liability shown on the
notice are computational adjustments that are not subject to
deficiency procedures. Ps have conceded the amount of the
deficiency but urge us to follow Petaluma FX Partners, LLC
v. Commissioner, 591 F.3d 649 (D.C. Cir. 2010), affg. in part,
revg. in part and remanding in part 131 T.C. 84 (2008), and
hold that the accuracy-related penalty does not relate to an
adjustment to a partnership item and can be assessed only
following deficiency procedures. Held: Computing Ps’ income
tax deficiency arising from the adjustments finalized in the
partnership-level proceeding in RJT Invs. X, LLC v. Commis-
sioner, docket No. 11769–05 (June 6, 2006), affd. 491 F.3d 732
(8th Cir. 2007), does not require any partner-level determina-
tions, and assessing or collecting this deficiency is not subject
to deficiency procedures. Held, further, the errors in the notice
of deficiency do not constitute a ‘‘determination’’ under sec.
6212(a), I.R.C. Held, further, the accuracy-related penalty may
be directly assessed and is not subject to deficiency proce-
dures, notwithstanding the need for partner-level determina-
tions. Held, further, the notice of deficiency is invalid and the
Court lacks jurisdiction over this case. R’s motion to dismiss
for lack of jurisdiction will be granted.
Edward M. Robbins, Jr., for petitioners.
James A. Kutten, for respondent.
220
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 221
OPINION
WHERRY, Judge: This case is before the Court on respond-
ent’s motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. The case con-
stitutes a partner-level action under the unified partnership
audit and litigation procedures of the Tax Equity and Fiscal
Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA), Pub. L. 97–248, sec.
402(a), 96 Stat. 324. 1
Background
I. Partnership-Level Proceeding
Petitioner husband, Randall J. Thompson, engaged in a
Son-of-BOSS (BOSS) market linked deposit transaction in
2001, seeking to offset approximately $21,500,000 in capital
gains. To facilitate the BOSS transaction, petitioner husband
formed RJT Investments X, LLC (RJT), on October 12, 2001.
For its tax year ended December 31, 2001, RJT made all part-
nership allocations to petitioner husband. The Commissioner
issued a notice of final partnership administrative adjust-
ment (FPAA) to RJT for 2001 on March 21, 2005, disallowing
deductions and losses and determining an accuracy-related
penalty under section 6662.
Petitioner husband, as the tax matters partner of RJT, peti-
tioned this Court challenging the FPAA in a partnership-level
proceeding, RJT Invs. X, LLC v. Commissioner, docket No.
11769–05. The Court entered a decision in that case on June
6, 2006. That decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeals
for the Eighth Circuit in RJT Invs. X, LLC v. Commissioner,
491 F.3d 732 (8th Cir. 2007).
II. Issuance of Notice
Petitioners’ 2001 Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax
Return, included income, deductions, and losses relating to
RJT. In a stipulation of facts filed June 16, 2011, the parties
agree that ‘‘On September 22, 2008, respondent timely
mailed an affected items notice of deficiency for the year
ending December 31, 2001, to petitioners determining a defi-
ciency in federal income tax and an addition to tax pursuant
1 Unless otherwise indicated, all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
(Code), as amended and in effect for the year at issue, 2001, and all Rule references are to the
Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.
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222 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
to I.R.C. § 6662(h).’’ The ‘‘copy of the affected items notice of
deficiency issued to petitioners for the year ending December
31, 2001’’ attached to the stipulation of facts shows the fol-
lowing amounts: (1) $4,634,243.00, labeled ‘‘Tax’’; and (2)
$1,853,697.20, labeled ‘‘IRC 6662(h)’’. The stipulation of facts
further states that ‘‘On September 23, 2008, respondent
assessed the following against petitioners regarding the flow
through adjustments from RJT Investments X, LLC (a)
$1,853,697.20 penalty pursuant to I.R.C. § 6662, (b)
$4,634,243.00 tax, and (c) $3,053,575.48 interest.’’
Petitioners filed a petition on December 19, 2008, before
the December 22, 2008, date shown as the ‘‘Last Day to File
a Petition With the United States Tax Court’’ on the Sep-
tember 22, 2008, notice of deficiency. On December 2, 2009,
respondent filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction
(motion), and a memorandum in support of respondent’s
motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. Pursuant to an
order of the Court of December 8, 2009, petitioners timely
filed a memorandum in opposition to respondent’s motion to
dismiss for lack of jurisdiction on December 31, 2009.
Respondent’s motion asks
that this case be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction upon the ground that
no valid statutory notice of deficiency * * * has been sent to petitioners
with respect to taxable year 2001, nor has respondent made any other
determination with respect to petitioners’ taxable year 2001 that would
confer jurisdiction on this Court. [Emphasis supplied.]
The motion argues that the September 22, 2008, ‘‘notice of
deficiency is invalid as the determination relates to computa-
tional flow through adjustments that are immediately assess-
able and not affected items requiring partner-level deter-
minations made through a notice of deficiency’’.
III. Errors in Notice
In reviewing the record in the case, the Court noted two
apparent errors by respondent in making adjustments to
petitioners’ 2001 Form 1040 to give effect to the June 6,
2006, decision in the partnership-level proceeding. The Court
brought these apparent errors to the parties’ attention. 2 The
2 The Court uncovered these apparent errors when comparing the June 6, 2006, decision in
the partnership-level proceeding and petitioners’ Form 1040, on the one hand, with the adjust-
ments shown on Form 886–A, Explanation of Items, attached to the Sept. 22, 2008, notice of
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 223
parties subsequently filed a stipulation of settlement on July
26, 2011. The stipulation of settlement states in part that
To the extent that this Court has jurisdiction to redetermine respondent’s
determination in the September 22, 2008, affected item notice of deficiency,
the parties agree that respondent’s determination regarding the deficiency
and penalty pursuant to I.R.C. § 6662(h) for 2001, modified as set forth
on the Audit Statement and Statement—Income Tax Changes attached
hereto as Exhibit B, is correct. [Emphasis supplied.]
Exhibit B attached to the July 26, 2011, stipulation of
settlement, includes a Form 3610, Audit Statement, and a
Form 5278, Statement—Income Tax Changes, for petitioners
for tax year 2001, each bearing a date of July 18, 2011. The
July 18, 2011, Form 3610 shows a ‘‘statutory deficiency’’ of
$4,248,420. Line 21 of the July 18, 2011, Form 5278 confirms
that the ‘‘Deficiency—increase in tax’’ is $4,248,420. By
comparison, on the September 22, 2008, notice of deficiency,
the amount shown as ‘‘Deficiency’’ under ‘‘Tax’’ is
$4,634,243. 3
deficiency, on the other. One of these adjustments sought to give effect to the holding in the
partnership-level decision of June 6, 2006, that ‘‘RJT Investments X, LLC is disregarded for Fed-
eral income tax purposes.’’ Explaining that ‘‘We have adjusted your return in accordance with
the Tax Court decision for RJT Investments X, LLC’’, Form 886–A purports to deny petitioners
the entire amount of the short-term capital loss that they had claimed on Schedule D, Capital
Gains and Losses, on account of ‘‘LIQUIDATION OF RJT INVESTMENTS X, LLC’’. Form 886–
A shows a ‘‘Per Return’’ short-term capital loss of $22,006,759 and a corresponding positive ‘‘Ad-
justment’’ in the same amount. However, the Court observed that petitioners’ Schedule D had
actually claimed, on line 7, a ‘‘Net short-term capital * * * loss’’ of $21,032,415. The amount
of $22,006,759 was, in fact, the claimed ‘‘Cost or other basis’’ of the purported investment in
the partnership, shown in column (e) of line 1 of Schedule D.
Another adjustment on Form 886–A sought to give effect to the determination in the partner-
ship-level decision of June 6, 2006, that the appropriate amount of the ‘‘Partnership Item’’ de-
scribed as ‘‘Investment income included in portfolio income’’ was zero and not $206. The Court
noted that this redetermination of the relevant partnership item should have ‘‘zeroed out’’ the
$206 amount shown on petitioners’ Schedule K–1, Partner’s Share of Income, Credits, Deduc-
tions, etc., on line 4(b), Ordinary dividends. Nonetheless, if the $206 amount was actually re-
ceived by petitioner husband, it should arguably still have been shown on petitioners’ Schedule
B, Interest and Ordinary Dividends, under Part II, Ordinary Dividends. Instead of being de-
noted ‘‘FROM K–1—RJT INVESTMENTS X, LLC’’, as petitioners had done, the dividend should
have been attributed directly to the underlying security. However, it is unclear whether the
partnership-level decision of June 6, 2006, had eliminated the partnership item of $206 of divi-
dend or merely rendered it a nonpartnership item. If the latter, then there should have been
no net amount of adjustment to petitioners’ Schedule B. But Form 886–A, under ‘‘Dividends’’,
zeroed out the $206 amount with a negative adjustment in the same amount, without an accom-
panying positive adjustment to reflect the nonpartnership character of the item.
3 Also, the July 18, 2011, Form 3610 shows an amount under ‘‘§ IRC 6662(h)’’ of $1,699,368.
Again, the July 18, 2011, Form 5278 confirms on line 24 that ‘‘Penalties and/or Additions to
Tax’’ under ‘‘IRC 6662’’ amount to $1,699,368. By comparison, on the Sept. 22, 2008, notice of
deficiency, the amount shown for ‘‘IRC 6662(h)’’ is $1,853,697.20.
We note that the deficiency and penalty amounts in the attachments to the July 26, 2011,
stipulation of settlement are based on petitioners’ revised taxable income that reflects disallow-
Continued
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224 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
We recognize that the September 22, 2008, notice of defi-
ciency contains deficiency and penalty amounts that are
larger than the respective amounts that respondent has now
stipulated as ‘‘correct’’. Presumably, respondent now believes
that the smaller stipulated amounts are the appropriate
versions of what he characterized in paragraph 7 of his
motion as ‘‘computational assessments [that] are authorized
by I.R.C. § 6230(a)(1) to be directly assessed without the
issuance of an affected items notice of deficiency.’’
Discussion
We consider, in sequence, our jurisdiction over petitioners’
income tax deficiency and the accuracy-related penalty.
I. Jurisdiction Over Deficiency
Whether we have jurisdiction over petitioners’ income tax
deficiency, in turn, requires us to decide the following three
issues: (1) Whether an affected items notice of deficiency
issued in the absence of a need for partner-level determina-
tions is void ab initio; (2) whether an erroneous computa-
tional adjustment, which both was made and can be cor-
rected without partner-level determinations, constitutes an
additional determination rendering valid the notice con-
taining it; and (3) whether any partner-level determinations
are required, in petitioners’ case, to properly reflect the treat-
ment of partnership items made in the partnership-level pro-
ceeding.
A. Notice Void Ab Initio
We first confront the argument that even though an
affected items notice of deficiency may not be required in the
ance of a net short-term capital loss of $21,032,415, the actual amount petitioners had claimed
on their Schedule D, and not the ‘‘Per Return’’ amount of $22,006,759 shown on Form 886–A.
We further note, however, that this revised taxable income still does not account for the $206
dividend amount.
As we explain infra Discussion, pt. I.C., we decline to look behind the purported affected items
notice of deficiency in testing its validity. We acknowledge that in discovering what appeared
to be errors in that notice, we considered material submitted by the parties, including peti-
tioners’ Form 1040, and compared it with attachments to the notice. We ignored all such mate-
rial in conducting our jurisdictional inquiry. Further, because we conclude infra Discussion, pts.
I.E. and II.C., that we lack jurisdiction over the case, we wish to make it clear that in alerting
the parties to these apparent errors we did not make any findings on these issues, which speak
for themselves in accordance with the statements on the documents. Though the parties have
come to an agreement regarding these apparent errors, we disclaim any responsibility for, or
jurisdiction over, their agreement.
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 225
absence of a need for partner-level determinations, once the
Commissioner does issue such a notice, he is bound by it. If
this is correct, then, pursuant to section 6213(a), ‘‘no assess-
ment of a deficiency in respect of any tax * * * shall be
made, begun, or prosecuted * * *, if a petition has been filed
with the Tax Court, until the decision of the Tax Court has
become final.’’ This argument presumes that an affected
items notice of deficiency is elective if no partner-level deter-
minations are needed. Moreover, once the Commissioner
makes the election, then the restrictions on assessments are
necessarily activated. This argument, and the electiveness of
an affected items notice of deficiency, are refuted by the plain
language of the statute.
The applicability or inapplicability of deficiency procedures
under section 6230 is statutorily mandated and bereft of any
administrative discretion. Under section 6230(a)(1), ‘‘Except
as provided in paragraph (2) [relating to affected items
requiring partner-level determinations] or (3) [relating to
items ceasing to be partnership items], subchapter B of this
chapter [containing deficiency notice procedures and require-
ments] shall not apply to the assessment or collection of any
computational adjustment.’’ (Emphasis supplied.) Conversely,
under section 6230(a)(2)(A), ‘‘Subchapter B shall apply to any
deficiency attributable to * * * affected items which require
partner level determinations’’. (Emphasis supplied.) Thus, for
giving partner-level effect to the treatment of any partner-
ship item, the deficiency procedures of subchapter B, sections
6211 through 6216, either apply or do not, depending upon
whether partner-level determinations are, or are not, needed.
The Commissioner enjoys no element of choice of any sort.
In the absence of a need for partner-level determinations,
sections 6211 through 6216 simply do not apply. Con-
sequently, whatever notice the Commissioner may inappro-
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226 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
priately (albeit understandably) issue, 4 it cannot trigger the
restraints on assessment of section 6213(a). 5
B. Any Other Determination
We now consider the contention that in making an erro-
neous computational adjustment, respondent has ‘‘made any
other determination with respect to petitioners’ taxable year
2001 that would confer jurisdiction on this Court.’’
It may be argued that if an affected items notice of defi-
ciency determines an amount higher than the amount that
the Commissioner eventually concedes as the definitive defi-
ciency, then the notice does not properly reflect the treat-
ment of the partnership items at issue. 6 Specifically, the
argument posits that the acknowledged errors in computing
the impact of the treatment of one or more partnership items
cause the notice’s determination no longer to be a ‘‘computa-
tional adjustment’’ under section 6231(a)(6) but to constitute
a ‘‘deficiency’’ within the meaning of section 6211(a). The
argument would bring the notice of deficiency within the pur-
view of the deficiency procedures of sections 6211 through
6216. Consequently, whether or not partner-level determina-
4 See the Commissioner’s Chief Counsel Notice CC–2009–11 (Mar. 11, 2009), which outlines
a protective assessment procedure for ‘‘those cases in which a partner has sold at a loss * * *
the TEFRA partnership interest’’. Notice CC–2009–11 acknowledges that
If the IRS issues a notice of deficiency, the statute of limitations is tolled, but only if section
6230(a)(2) authorizes the notice of deficiency. * * * To account for this uncertainty in classifying
affected items, the IRS should issue a notice of deficiency with respect to the affected items and
any penalties relating to the affected items * * * [regardless of the need for partner-level deter-
minations. Also], the IRS should assess the entire deficiency, including any penalties, reflecting
both the outcome of the partnership-level proceeding as well as what was included in the af-
fected item notice of deficiency.
5 We note that no Court of Appeals has yet concluded as much. The Court of Appeals for the
Sixth Circuit in Desmet v. Commissioner, 581 F.3d 297, 302 (6th Cir. 2009), affg. in part and
remanding on other grounds Domulewicz v. Commissioner, 129 T.C. 11 (2007), appears to have
come close when it acknowledged that ‘‘TEFRA prefers that * * * computational adjustments
be assessed directly to the partner’s return, without a second set of proceedings against each
partner.’’ By comparison, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Napoliello v. Commis-
sioner, 655 F.3d 1060, 1064 n.1 (9th Cir. 2011), affg. T.C. Memo. 2009–104, declined to ‘‘reach
the question of whether the notice of deficiency would be invalid if no partner-level determina-
tion were necessary.’’ We do not enjoy the luxury of leaving the issue unresolved here.
6 Petitioners have chosen not to make this argument and declared instead that the computa-
tional errors in the affected items notice of deficiency ‘‘have no bearing on the Court’s jurisdic-
tion in this case.’’ Ironically, petitioners’ failure to advance this argument has no bearing on our
jurisdictional inquiry. We have an affirmative duty to investigate the extent of our jurisdiction
regardless of the parties’ submissions. See, e.g., Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 514
(2006) (underlining that courts ‘‘have an independent obligation to determine whether subject-
matter jurisdiction exists, even in the absence of a challenge from any party’’); United States
v. Cotton, 535 U.S. 625, 630 (2002) (holding that ‘‘subject-matter jurisdiction, because it involves
a court’s power to hear a case, can never be forfeited or waived’’).
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 227
tions are needed, the argument would conclude that the
notice is valid and validly confers jurisdiction on us to
redetermine the deficiency shown in the notice.
Supporting this argument is the tenet that the words
‘‘properly reflects’’ in the definition of ‘‘computational adjust-
ment’’ in section 6231(a)(6) are construed to require an objec-
tively ascertainable treatment of a partnership item. Fur-
ther, the argument assumes that any such ascertainment
should be made in the light of all relevant information,
regardless of when or how it is revealed. Extending this
argument to its logical conclusion yields manifest inconsist-
encies with the intent and design of the two-tier TEFRA
regime. These inconsistencies would inevitably arise because
a ‘‘computational adjustment’’ is a predicate for not just a
direct assessment under section 6230(a)(1), but also an
affected items notice of deficiency under section
6230(a)(2)(B). 7
In particular, the exclusions from the ‘‘no-second-notice’’
rule of section 6212(c), which are contained in section
6230(a)(2)(C) and are restricted to a notice issued under sec-
tion 6230(a)(2)(B), would be unavailable if an error in a com-
putational adjustment is deemed to be ‘‘another determina-
tion’’. If this determination represents a section 6211(a) defi-
ciency (instead of a section 6231(a)(6) computational adjust-
ment), then the notice containing it would constitute a sec-
tion 6212(a) notice of deficiency (instead of a section
6230(a)(2)(B) affected items notice of deficiency).
Any time we redetermine downwards a deficiency shown in
an otherwise validly issued affected items notice of defi-
ciency, after making partner-level determinations, we are
necessarily holding incorrect the computational adjustment
shown on the notice. If the judicially determined error in the
7 See Bush v. United States, 655 F.3d 1323, 1332 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (acknowledging that ‘‘Our
holding that the assessments in this case meet the definition of ‘computational adjustment’
under I.R.C. § 6231(a)(6) does not end our analysis. Notices of deficiency would still be due for
any deficiencies (including any that would otherwise be a computational adjustment) attrib-
utable to ‘affected items which require partner level determinations’ under § 6230(a)(2)(A)(i).’’
(Emphasis supplied.)); Desmet v. Commissioner, supra at 302 (explaining that ‘‘the IRS may pro-
ceed to make computational adjustments to each partner’s return * * * in one of two ways.
First, the IRS may directly assess the tax against the individual partner by making a computa-
tional adjustment—applying the new tax treatment of all partnership items to that partner’s
return. * * * Second, if the partner’s liability relates to ‘affected items which require partner
level determinations,’ then the IRS must send a notice of deficiency to that partner, thereby ini-
tiating proceedings against him individually, pursuant to the standard deficiency procedures set
forth in I.R.C. §§ 6211–16.’’ (Emphasis supplied.) (Citations omitted.)).
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228 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
computational adjustment is conceived of as ‘‘another deter-
mination’’ that the Commissioner has made, then our holding
would ipso facto trigger the prohibition against a second
notice contained in section 6212(c). Therefore, if no notice
had been previously issued for the same tax year, then the
affected items notice would foreclose the possibility of
another notice, even with respect to nonpartnership items.
More troubling, a prior notice for the same tax year for non-
partnership items would render invalid the notice underlying
our redetermination. In other words, our redetermination
would be moot precisely because we disagree with the
Commissioner’s initial determination.
We reject such perverse results and the stilted logic that
inexorably leads to them. Instead, we hold that the words
‘‘properly reflects’’ in the definition of ‘‘computational adjust-
ment’’ in section 6231(a)(6) are construed as of the time the
notice is issued and without looking behind that notice. Thus,
if the notice, on its face, purports to give proper effect to the
treatment of a partnership item, then the resulting deter-
mination is a computational adjustment within the meaning
of section 6231(a)(6). Consequently, under section
6230(a)(2)(A), the validity of this notice depends solely on the
need for partner-level determinations.
C. Do Not Look Behind the Notice; Do Not Go to Tax Court
For a jurisdictional inquiry, the words ‘‘properly reflects’’ in
the definition of ‘‘computational adjustment’’ in section
6231(a)(6) are construed to require not a reflection that is
‘‘proper’’ (i.e., accurate and correct) in an abstract sense, but
merely a reflection that the Commissioner contends is
proper. Looking for a reflection in the Commissioner’s all-too
human eye instead of one in a perfectly reflecting mirror,
under section 6231(a)(6), is in complete harmony with our
construction of ‘‘deficiency’’ in section 6211(a). Under section
6211(a), we do not seek to establish an objectively verifiable
existence of a deficiency to test the validity of a notice of defi-
ciency. We focus, instead, on the Commissioner’s determina-
tion of a proclaimed deficiency.
As we explained in Hannan v. Commissioner, 52 T.C. 787,
791 (1969): ‘‘it is not the existence of a deficiency but the
Commissioner’s determination of a deficiency that provides a
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 229
predicate for Tax Court jurisdiction. * * * Indeed, were this
not true, then the absurd result would be that in every case
in which this Court determined that no deficiency existed,
our jurisdiction would be lost.’’ This would, among other
things, read out of the Code our incidental refund jurisdiction
of section 6512(b). See id.; see also Huffman v. Commis-
sioner, T.C. Memo. 1991–144 (holding that even after the
Commissioner subsequently conceded the entire amount of
the deficiency initially determined in the notice of deficiency,
the notice continued to retain validity for jurisdictional pur-
poses), affd. in part and revd. in part on other grounds 978
F.2d 1139 (9th Cir. 1992).
Further, in eschewing to look behind the affected items
notice of deficiency, we are being perfectly consistent with
our precedent in testing the validity of other ‘‘ticket[s] to the
tax court’’, Corbett v. Frank, 293 F.2d 501, 502 (9th Cir.
1961), viz, section 6212(a) notices of deficiency and section
6330(d)(1)(A) notices of determination. 8
Our holding is also in accord with Meyer v. Commissioner,
97 T.C. 555 (1991). In Meyer v. Commissioner, supra at 559,
we observed that the Commissioner ‘‘can immediately assess
and collect the addition to tax under section 6651(a)(1) * * *
if such additions are determined (i.e., measured) by the
amount of tax shown on the taxpayer’s return’’. For one of
the tax years at issue in that case, the Commissioner had
summarily assessed an erroneous amount as an addition to
tax under section 6651(a)(1). Subsequently, the Commis-
sioner abated this erroneous assessment and included a
8 In the context of a sec. 6212(a) notice of deficiency, we laid down a general rule of not look-
ing behind the notice to determine its validity in Greenberg’s Express, Inc. v. Commissioner, 62
T.C. 324, 327 (1974). We have adhered to this rule ever since. See Pietanza v. Commissioner,
92 T.C. 729, 735 (1989), affd. without published opinion
935 F.2d 1282 (3d Cir. 1991); Riland
v. Commissioner, 79 T.C. 185, 201 (1982); Estate of Brimm v. Commissioner,
70 T.C. 15, 22
(1978). Also, in deciding whether the Commissioner has made a ‘‘determination’’ within the
meaning of sec. 6212(a), we need only examine the face of the notice. See Sealy Power, Ltd. v.
Commissioner, 46 F.3d 382, 388 n.25 (5th Cir. 1995), affg. in part and revg. in part T.C. Memo.
1992–168; Clapp v. Commissioner, 875 F.2d 1396, 1402 (9th Cir. 1989); Campbell v. Commis-
sioner, 90 T.C. 110 (1988); cf. Scar v. Commissioner,
814 F.2d 1363 (9th Cir. 1987) (holding that
because the face of the notice of deficiency revealed that the Commissioner had failed to make
a ‘‘determination’’ within the meaning of sec. 6212(a), the notice was insufficient to confer juris-
diction on the Court), revg. 81 T.C. 855 (1983).
We extended these principles of limiting our gaze to a notice’s surface to sec. 6330(d)(1)(A)
notices of determination in Lunsford v. Commissioner, 117 T.C. 159, 164 (2001). In so doing,
we overruled precedent holding that we must first look behind the determination to see whether
a proper hearing was offered in order to have jurisdiction. See Meyer v. Commissioner, 115 T.C.
417 (2000), abrogated by Johnson v. Commissioner,
117 T.C. 204 (2001).
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230 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
smaller amount as a section 6651(a)(1) addition to tax in a
section 6212(a) statutory notice of deficiency.
We did not attempt to verify the accuracy of the smaller
amount. Instead, we noted that the ‘‘inclusion of the addi-
tions to tax under sections 6651(a)(1) * * * in the deficiency
notice * * * raises a jurisdictional question’’. Id. at 562.
Even though the Commissioner had not challenged our juris-
diction, we did so sua sponte. ‘‘Having concluded that the
additions to tax in question are not subject to the deficiency
procedures, * * * [we ruled] on our own motion [to] dismiss
this case for lack of jurisdiction and strike as it relates to’’
the amount of the section 6651(a)(1) addition to tax shown on
the notice. Id. We refrained from looking behind the notice
to consider whether the amount shown on the notice was the
proper section 6651(a)(1) addition to tax. We do the same
here with respect to the section 6230(a)(1) computational
adjustment that does not need any partner-level determina-
tions.
Finally, we note that if we were to hold otherwise, we
would allow a taxpayer to proceed with a petition by
assigning errors to a notice, even though adjudicating such
errors would not require that we make partner-level deter-
minations. Allowing taxpayers such a prepayment forum
would circumvent congressional intent as expressed in sec-
tion 6230(c) limiting a partner’s relief from erroneous com-
putational adjustments to a claim or suit for refund. Whether
such a restriction is reasonable or just is for Congress to
decide, and we believe it already has. 9
D. No Partner-Level Determinations Needed
The September 22, 2008, notice of deficiency made four dis-
crete computational adjustments to petitioners’ 2001 income
tax liability, each of which purportedly ‘‘properly reflects the
9 Compare sec. 6230(a)(3)(A) (using the phrase ‘‘request for abatement’’ (emphasis supplied) for
seeking innocent spouse relief from ‘‘a liability that is attributable to any adjustment to a part-
nership item’’), with sec. 6230(c)(1) (using the phrase ‘‘claim for refund’’ (emphasis supplied) for
a claim made ‘‘on the grounds that * * * the Secretary erroneously computed any computational
adjustment necessary * * * to apply to the partner a * * * decision of a [TEFRA partnership-
level proceeding]’’). See also Ackerman v. United States, 643 F. Supp. 2d 140, 146, 147–148
(D.D.C. 2009) (after confirming that ‘‘The critical question in this case is whether the term
‘claim for refund’ [in sec. 6230(c)(1)] requires that payment be made before the claim is filed’’,
the court concluded ‘‘that Congress purposely used the term ‘claim for refund’ in section 6230(c).
* * * It is unlikely * * * that Congress did not intend ‘claim for refund’ when it wrote ‘claim
for refund’ in section 6230(c).’’ (Emphasis supplied.) (Citations omitted.)).
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 231
treatment under this subchapter of a partnership item’’. Sec.
6231(a)(6). These adjustments comprised: (a) Eliminating the
$206 of dividend income reported on petitioners’ 2001
Schedule B as income from RJT’s Schedule K–1; (b) elimi-
nating the $12,415 capital loss reported on petitioners’ 2001
Schedule D, line 5, as a flowthrough loss from RJT’s Schedule
K–1; (c) eliminating the $81,040 investment expense deduc-
tion reported on Schedule A, Itemized Deductions, line 22, as
a flowthrough deduction from RJT’s Schedule K–1; and (d)
eliminating the reported loss on liquidation of RJT reported
on petitioners’ 2001 Schedule D, line 1. 10
All of these computational adjustments follow directly from
the treatment of partnership items determined in the part-
nership-level proceeding, and none of them requires any
partner-level determinations within the meaning of section
6230(a)(2) and section 301.6231(a)(6)–1(a)(2), Proced. &
Admin. Regs.
1. No Profit Motive Found; No Loss Allowed
We begin with the following unremarkable twin propo-
sitions. The validity of each is readily apparent from the rel-
evant Code sections, viewed in the light of the Commis-
sioner’s interpretive regulations and the gloss of our own
precedent. First, if a TEFRA partnership-level proceeding
determines that partnership activities were not engaged in
with a profit motive, then for a given tax year a partner’s
distributive share of partnership income serves as an upper
limit on that partner’s distributive shares of partnership
losses and deductions. 11 Second, if the partnership activities
were deemed a sham, the partner may not claim a loss on
liquidating any part of his partnership interest.
If an ‘‘activity is not engaged in for profit’’, section
183(b)(2) limits deductions attributable to that activity to
‘‘the gross income derived from such activity for the taxable
10 These adjustments necessitated respondent’s making the following accompanying changes
to petitioners’ individual tax liability, which are not deemed to constitute partner-level deter-
minations under sec. 301.6231(a)(6)–1(a)(2), Proced. & Admin. Regs.: Decreasing petitioners’
2001 itemized deductions by $170,283 to eliminate the $81,040 investment expense deduction
mentioned above and to reflect a higher ‘‘floor’’ for such deductions; and recomputing petitioners’
2001 alternative minimum tax.
11 This excludes, pursuant to sec. 183(b)(1), ‘‘deductions which would be allowable * * * with-
out regard to whether or not such activity is engaged in for profit’’, such as State and local taxes
and casualty losses. No such deductions are at issue here.
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232 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
year’’. ‘‘[T]he term ‘activity not engaged in for profit’ means
any activity other than one with respect to which deductions
are allowable for the taxable year under section 162 or under
* * * section 212.’’ Sec. 183(c).
Though section 183 is limited on its face to ‘‘an individual
or an S corporation’’, we have previously and repeatedly
agreed with the Commissioner that ‘‘section 183 of the Code
applies to the activities of a partnership, and the provisions
of section 183 are applied at the partnership level and
reflected in the partner’s distributive shares.’’ Rev. Rul. 77–
320, 1977–2 C.B. 78; see also Rev. Rul. 78–22, 1978–1 C.B.
72 (holding that an individual engaged in the same economic
activity both as a sole proprietor and as a partner is deemed
to be engaged in two distinct activities for section 183 pur-
poses). 12
The two revenue rulings cited above predate TEFRA. How-
ever, section 301.6231(a)(3)–1(b), Proced. & Admin. Regs.,
makes it clear that their logic carries over to TEFRA and ‘‘The
term ‘partnership item’ includes * * * whether partnership
12 We have concurred with this reasoning and concluded that in a sec. 183 inquiry in a part-
nership context, ‘‘the profit motive analysis is made at the partnership level.’’ Antonides v. Com-
missioner, 91 T.C. 686, 694 (1988), affd.
893 F.2d 656 (4th Cir. 1990); see also Peat Oil & Gas
Associates v. Commissioner, 100 T.C. 271 (1993) (holding that motives of promoters and man-
agers of partnership control a sec. 183 analysis), affd. sub nom. Ferguson v. Commissioner, 29
F.3d 98 (2d Cir. 1994); Krause v. Commissioner,
99 T.C. 132, 168 (1992) (‘‘Whether activities
of partnerships were engaged in with actual and honest profit objectives is analyzed at the part-
nership level.’’), affd. 28 F.3d 1024 (10th Cir. 1994); Rosenfeld v. Commissioner,
82 T.C. 105
(1984) (declaring irrelevant the intent of individual coowners for analyzing partnership’s profit
motive); Surloff v. Commissioner, 81 T.C. 210, 233 n.58 (1983) (stating that for sec. 183 pur-
poses, ‘‘the partnership itself is the entity that is or is not in a trade or business’’).
We find unanimity among the various Courts of Appeals that have considered this issue,
which have all held that a sec. 183 analysis for a profit motive in a partnership context is prop-
erly conducted at the partnership level. See Copeland v. Commissioner, 290 F.3d 326 (5th Cir.
2002), affg. in part and revg. in part on other grounds T.C. Memo. 2000–81; Hill v. Commis-
sioner, 204 F.3d 1214 (9th Cir. 2000); Underwood v. Commissioner,
203 F.3d 836 (10th Cir.
2000).
However, we do detect a difference of opinion between at least two Courts of Appeals in how
sec. 183 operates to disallow deductions claimed by a partner in a TEFRA partnership. The
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has stated that sec. 183 directly ‘‘applies to partnerships
despite the statute’s failure to mention them.’’ Hill v. Commissioner, supra at 1218. The Court
of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, on the other hand, has held ‘‘that the factors from I.R.C. § 183
are only tools for determining the requisite profit objective under I.R.C. §§ 162 and 174; deduc-
tions for partnership expenses are not allowed or disallowed directly under I.R.C. § 183 itself.’’
Copeland v. Commissioner, supra at 335.
The preceding suggests that while the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit would consider
the disallowance of a deduction under sec. 183 a partnership item for TEFRA purposes, the
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit would treat it as an ‘‘affected item’’. This difference of
opinion does not affect our conclusion regarding the absence of any need for partner-level deter-
minations in this case. See infra notes 17 and 19.
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 233
activities have been engaged in with the intent to make a
profit for purposes of section 183’’.
2. Sham Partnership and Shamed Partner
We recognize the analytical separability of a partner’s
intent in investing in the partnership from the partnership’s
intent in engaging in partnership activities. However, ‘‘We
have never held that the mere presence of an individual’s
profit objective will require us to recognize for tax purposes
a transaction which lacks economic substance.’’ Cherin v.
Commissioner, 89 T.C. 986, 993 (1987).
For a partner to claim a loss on liquidating his partnership
interest, his underlying investment must have been ‘‘entered
into for profit’’ within the meaning of section 165(c)(2). But
if the partnership activities themselves were a sham, ‘‘then
such niceties as whether * * * [the partner’s investment]
was ‘primarily’ for profit, or whether the test is an objective
or subjective one are simply not involved.’’ Mahoney v.
Commissioner, 808 F.2d 1219, 1220 (6th Cir. 1987), affg.
Forseth v. Commissioner, 85 T.C. 127 (1985); see also
Hoffpauir v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1996–41 (holding
that ‘‘A taxpayer may not deduct * * * losses under section
165(c)(2) from a tax shelter which lacks economic substance,
even if the taxpayer intended to make a profit.’’).
In other words, for an allowable loss on liquidating a part-
nership interest, each of the following is a necessary condi-
tion. The partner must have had a profit motive for investing
in the partnership, and the partnership transactions them-
selves must not be devoid of economic substance. See Illes v.
Commissioner, 982 F.2d 163, 165 (6th Cir. 1992) (formulating
a two-part test for deducting investment losses in which ‘‘The
threshold question is whether the transaction has economic
substance. If the answer is yes, the question becomes
whether the taxpayer was motivated by profit to participate
in the transaction.’’), affg. T.C. Memo. 1991–449.
Even if the partner had acquired his partnership interest
with the individual motive of making a profit, he may not
deduct as losses any amounts invested in the partnership if
the partnership activities were a sham. See Illes v. Commis-
sioner, supra at 165; Rose v. Commissioner, 868 F.2d 851,
853 (6th Cir. 1989) (declaring that a ‘‘court will not inquire
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234 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
into whether a transaction’s primary objective was for the
production of income or to make a profit, until it determines
that the transaction is bona fide and not a sham’’), affg. 88
T.C. 386 (1987); Collins v. Commissioner,
857 F.2d 1383,
1385 (9th Cir. 1988) (stating that ‘‘the court does not inquire
into a transaction’s primary objective until it determines that
the transaction is bona fide, that is, not a sham’’), affg. T.C.
Memo. 1987–217. 13
E. Conclusion
In the related partnership-level proceeding here, RJT Invs.
X, LLC v. Commissioner, docket No. 11769–05, the Commis-
sioner had filed a motion for summary judgment on April 5,
2006. That motion asked the Court to sustain the determina-
tions set forth in the FPAA including the claims
That the formation of RJT Investments X, LLC, the acquisition of any
interest in RJT Investments X, LLC by Randall Thompson and any other
partner, the purchase of offsetting positions on market-linked deposits, the
transfer of offsetting positions on market-linked deposits, the purchase of
assets and the distribution of assets had no business purpose, lacked eco-
nomic substance, and constituted an economic sham for income tax pur-
poses and were not entered into for a profit motive and therefore should be
disregarded for income tax purposes. [Emphasis supplied.]
We granted this motion in its entirety in our order filed April
19, 2006.
Because we had concluded in the April 19, 2006, order that
a profit motive was absent at the partnership-level, our sub-
sequent decision filed June 6, 2006, disallowed all partner-
ship-level deductions and losses. 14 That decision also
13 See also Marinovich v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1999–179; Schafer v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 1994–569; Farmer v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994–342; Wright v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 1994–288; Daoust v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994–203; cf. Fid. Intl. Currency Advisor
A Fund, LLC v. United States, 747 F. Supp. 2d 49, 236 (D. Mass. 2010) (concluding as a matter
of law that ‘‘Even if taxpayers invest in a partnership with the individual objective of making
a profit, they are not entitled to deduct any amounts invested in the partnership as losses under
Section 165(c)(2) if the partnership transactions are not entered into for profit’’, but going on
to contend that applicability of sec. 165(c)(2) is an ‘‘affected item’’ and beyond the subject matter
jurisdiction of a TEFRA partnership-level proceeding). Even assuming arguendo that applying
sec. 165(c)(2) to limit a loss claimed on liquidating a partnership interest is an ‘‘affected item’’,
its resolution does not require any additional factual partner-level determinations if the partner-
ship-level proceeding had previously concluded that the partnership activities were an economic
sham. See infra note 19.
14 We acknowledge that neither our order filed Apr. 19, 2006, nor our decision filed June 6,
2006, in RJT Invs. X, LLC v. Commissioner, docket No. 11769–05, cited sec. 183. We note, how-
ever, that the redetermination of partnership items set forth in our June 6, 2006, decision is
perfectly consistent with a sec. 183 analysis applied at the partnership level. We also note that
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 235
redetermined the partnership income to be zero, 15 while
leaving undisturbed the allocation of all partnership items to
petitioner husband. 16
Our partnership-level holding that the partnership activi-
ties ‘‘were not entered into for a profit motive’’ is sufficient
to deny petitioners any distributive shares of partnership
deductions and losses on their individual tax return for tax
year 2001. 17 Also, the partnership-level conclusion that part-
nership activities ‘‘constituted an economic sham’’ forecloses
petitioners from claiming any loss on liquidating a partner-
ship interest in a disregarded partnership. 18
pursuant to sec. 6226(h): ‘‘If an action brought under this section is dismissed, * * * the deci-
sion of the court dismissing the action shall be considered as its decision that the notice of final
partnership administrative adjustment is correct’’. The Commissioner’s motion for summary
judgment filed Apr. 5, 2006, had pointed out that ‘‘the practical effect of [petitioner’s] calling
no witnesses and being held to the issues and arguments raised in his issues memorandum
means that there are no genuine issues that can be disputed at trial.’’ That motion, granted
on Apr. 19, 2006, had asked as ultimate relief ‘‘that the determinations of the Commissioner
[set forth in the FPAA] be sustained.’’ On the basis of the foregoing, we have presented above
an explication of the findings and holdings of the partnership-level proceeding. Though both our
Apr. 19, 2006, order and June 6, 2006, decision were terse, parsing and explicating their find-
ings and holdings here does not, and cannot be construed to, constitute a partner-level deter-
mination.
15 See supra note 3, pointing out that respondent has chosen not to include the $206 dividend
amount in petitioners’ taxable income for tax year 2001 as a nonpartnership item. We need not,
and therefore do not, decide whether including this amount would have necessitated partner-
level determinations. We note that ascertaining whether receipt of a dividend constitutes ‘‘quali-
fied dividend income’’, as defined by sec. 1(h)(11)(B)(i), could, in certain circumstances, entail
making partner-level determinations.
16 ‘‘A court with which a petition is filed in accordance with this section shall have jurisdiction
to determine all partnership items of the partnership for the partnership taxable year to which
the notice of final partnership administrative adjustment relates, [and] the proper allocation of
such items among the partners’’. Sec. 6226(f) (emphasis supplied).
17 This case, absent a stipulation of the parties to the contrary, is appealable to the Court of
Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which does not appear to have decided whether deductions may
be disallowed directly under sec. 183 at the partnership level. If the Court of Appeals were to
do so by, for example, following Hill v. Commissioner, 204 F.3d at 1218, discussed supra note
12, it would obviate the need for any partner-level determinations. Even assuming arguendo
that the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit follows Copeland v. Commissioner, 290 F.3d
at 335, discussed supra note 12, and treats the consequences of applying sec. 183 to the partner-
ship as an ‘‘affected item’’, no partner-level determinations would be called for here. See infra
note 19.
18 Our Apr. 19, 2006, order granting respondent’s motion for summary judgment may be con-
strued as determining at the partnership level, and as a partnership item, the absence of a prof-
it motive in ‘‘the acquisition of any interest in RJT Investments X, LLC by Randall Thompson’’.
That order has now become ‘‘final’’ within the meaning of sec. 7481(a)(2)(A). This alone should
suffice for concluding that no further partner-level determinations are needed here.
However, even if we assume that applying sec. 165(c)(2) to deny a loss on liquidating a part-
nership interest is an ‘‘affected item’’ to be determined in a partner-level proceeding, such a de-
termination requires no further partner-level facts once the partnership activities have been
deemed to lack economic substance. See supra note 13 and accompanying text; infra note 19.
Moreover, a partnership-level conclusion that the partnership ‘‘is disregarded for Federal in-
come tax purposes’’, while leaving unchanged the allocation of all partnership items to petitioner
Continued
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236 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
We arrive at these conclusions without the need for
‘‘partner level determinations’’ within the meaning of section
6230(a)(2)(A)(i). 19 Consequently, pursuant to section
6230(a)(1), we find ourselves without jurisdiction over peti-
tioners’ income tax deficiency. 20
II. Jurisdiction Over Penalty
Our June 6, 2006, decision in RJT Invs. X, LLC v.
Commissioner, docket No. 11769–05, determined that an
accuracy-related penalty applied at the partnership level.
The June 6, 2006, decision had specifically and explicitly
exercised subject matter jurisdiction over computing the
partners’ outside bases. 21 We had concluded that ‘‘RJT
Investments X, LLC was a sham, lacked economic substance,
and was formed and/or availed [of] to overstate artificially
the basis of the interest of Randall Thompson in RJT Invest-
ments X, LLC in the amount of $22,006,759 for purposes of
tax avoidance.’’ On the basis of this finding of overstated out-
side basis, we had sustained ‘‘the 40-percent gross valuation
misstatement penalty under section 6662(a), (b)(3), (e), and
(h), I.R.C. * * * to any gross valuation misstatement
resulting from adjustments of the above partnership items.’’
husband, effectively reduces the purported partnership to a ‘‘single-member disregarded entity’’.
Cf. sec. 301.7701–3(a) and (b), Proced. & Admin. Regs. (providing in part that ‘‘unless the entity
elects otherwise, a domestic eligible entity is * * * Disregarded as an entity separate from its
owner if it has a single owner’’). It is a truism that no loss can be recognized on liquidating
a single-member disregarded entity.
19 See Callaway v. Commissioner, 231 F.3d 106, 110 & n.4 (2d Cir. 2000) (‘‘An example of an
affected item that requires no further factual determination at the partner level * * * [is an]
allowable deduction * * * which * * * depends on the partner’s distributive share of the part-
nership income or loss. Determining the allowed deduction is a mathematical calculation and
requires no further factual finding.’’), revg. on other grounds T.C. Memo. 1998–99. We are con-
fronted in the instant case by, in effect, ‘‘a mathematical formula’’ that requires petitioner hus-
band’s distributive shares of partnership deductions and losses to be no higher than his distribu-
tive share of zero income. Further, the partnership-level finding of an economic sham causes
sec. 165(c)(2) to eliminate, or set to zero, any claimed loss on liquidating the partnership inter-
est.
20 We are mindful that respondent has not spelled out the arguments that we have developed
and relied upon to demonstrate the absence of a need for partner-level determinations. We are
equally mindful, however, that we are engaged in exploring the outer limits of our subject mat-
ter jurisdiction. In conducting this exercise, we would be derelict in our duty if we were to rest
solely on the parties’ submissions. See supra note 6.
21 In RJT Invs. X, LLC v. Commissioner, docket No. 11769–05, the partnership, through its
tax matters partner, had filed a motion on Apr. 5, 2006, arguing in part that it ‘‘seeks an order
from the Court that the Court’s jurisdiction in this case * * * Excludes * * * Redetermining
Randall Thompson’s outside basis in’’ the partnership. We had denied that motion in its entirety
in our order filed Apr. 19, 2006.
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 237
A. ‘‘Out-Of-Sight’’ Outside Basis
After the petition in this case was filed, the Court of
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its opinion in Petaluma
FX Partners, LLC v. Commissioner, 591 F.3d 649, 655 (D.C.
Cir. 2010), affg. in part, revg. in part, vacating in part and
remanding on penalty issues 131 T.C. 84 (2008), in which it
‘‘rejected the Tax Court’s conclusion that outside basis was a
partnership item * * * [that] could * * * be determined in
the partnership-level proceeding.’’ On a direct appeal of that
particular partnership-level proceeding, the Court of Appeals
concluded that ‘‘the Tax Court lacked jurisdiction to deter-
mine outside basis * * * [and] to determine that penalties
apply with respect to outside basis because those penalties do
not relate to an adjustment to a partnership item.’’ Id.
In a supplemental brief, petitioners urge us to heed the
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and hold ‘‘that the pen-
alty determination in a case like this does not relate to an
adjustment to a partnership item, rather the penalty deter-
mination is a non-partnership item which must be deter-
mined with a Subtitle B statutory notice of deficiency.’’
B. Estoppel by Any Other Name
We withhold comment on how compelling the admonition
by the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the urging
by petitioners may otherwise be and merely observe that
both arrive too late for this case, where the partnership-level
proceeding has already been concluded. Our June 6, 2006,
decision in RJT Invs. X, LLC v. Commissioner, docket No.
11769–05, and its findings were affirmed, 491 F.3d 732 (8th
Cir. 2007), and are now ‘‘final’’ within the meaning of section
7481(a)(2)(A). Petitioners may not, in this partner-level
action, collaterally attack subject matter jurisdiction that we
had previously exercised in the partnership-level pro-
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238 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
ceeding. 22 The findings in that proceeding are no longer sub-
ject to review by this Court. 23
‘‘A valid jurisdictional judgment has preclusive effect,
* * * even if erroneous.’’ Cutler v. Hayes, 818 F.2d 879, 888
(D.C. Cir. 1987); see also Lambert v. Conrad, 536 F.2d 1183,
1185 (7th Cir. 1976) (holding that ‘‘a court has jurisdiction to
determine its jurisdiction; and once it has made that deter-
22 ‘‘Under collateral estoppel, once an issue is actually and necessarily determined by a court
of competent jurisdiction, that determination is conclusive in subsequent suits based on a dif-
ferent cause of action involving a party to the prior litigation.’’ Montana v. United States, 440
U.S. 147, 153 (1979) (emphasis supplied). While the reference to ‘‘a court of competent jurisdic-
tion’’ might suggest that collateral estoppel presupposes valid subject matter jurisdiction, in fact
the doctrine applies to preclude a subsequent challenge to subject matter jurisdiction. See Carr
v. District of Columbia, 646 F.2d 599, 608 (D.C. Cir. 1980) (holding that ‘‘ ‘When the question
of the [rendering] tribunal’s (subject matter) jurisdiction is raised in the original action, * * *
there is no reason why the determination of the issue should not therefore be conclusive under
the usual rules of issue preclusion.’ ’’ (quoting Restatement (second) of Judgments sec. 15, cmt.
c at 154 (Tent. Draft No. 6, 1979) (emphasis supplied)).
Privity for invoking collateral estoppel is supplied by sec. 6226(c)(1) (specifying that ‘‘each per-
son who was a partner in such partnership at any time during such year shall be treated as
a party to such action’’ (emphasis supplied)).
23 Collateral estoppel is usually invoked as an affirmative defense. Under Rule 39, ‘‘A party
shall set forth in the party’s pleading any matter constituting an avoidance or affirmative de-
fense, including * * * collateral estoppel’’. Jefferson v. Commissioner, 50 T.C. 963, 966–967
(1968), suggests that unless collateral estoppel is affirmatively pleaded, it is deemed waived.
However, we have long held that we may raise collateral estoppel sua sponte. See, e.g.,
Monahan v. Commissioner, 109 T.C. 235, 250 (1997); Fazi v. Commissioner,
105 T.C. 436, 445
(1995).
More importantly, insisting that the Commissioner affirmatively plead collateral estoppel in
every TEFRA partner-level action is an unworkable rule. It would necessitate that we assert
jurisdiction even if only to preclude relitigating partnership items. This would defeat, by proce-
dure, clearly enunciated legislative intent of attaining speed and symmetry at the partner level.
TEFRA represents in large part the codification of the collateral estoppel doctrine in the part-
nership context. See generally Wolff v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994–196 (‘‘The implication
here is that in pre-TEFRA proceedings a partner would not be collaterally estopped by the liti-
gation involving another partner in the same partnership.’’), revd. on other grounds 148 F.3d
186 (2d Cir. 1998); H. Conf. Rept. 97–760, at 62 (1982), 1982–2 C.B. 600, 662 (noting that under
pre-TEFRA law, ‘‘a judicial determination of an issue relating to a partnership item generally
is conclusive only as to those partners who are parties to the proceeding’’); Staff of Joint Com-
mittee on Taxation, General Explanation of the Revenue Provisions of the Tax Equity and Fiscal
Responsibility Act of 1982, at 268 (J. Comm. Print 1982) (observing that before enactment of
TEFRA, ‘‘Duplication of manpower and administrative and judicial effort was required in some
cases to determine the aggregate tax liability attributable to a single partnership item. Incon-
sistent results could be obtained * * * with respect to the same item’’). Requiring the Commis-
sioner to affirmatively plead collateral estoppel in a TEFRA partner-level action to give pre-
clusive effect to the prior findings and conclusions of a partnership-level proceeding would fa-
tally undermine the basic premises of TEFRA—conservation of judicial effort and consistent
treatment of all partners in the same partnership.
Secs. 6221, 6226(f), and 6230(c)(4) embody the codification of collateral estoppel with respect
to the partnership-level adjudication of partnership items and penalties relating to adjustment
of partnership items. Relitigating these items in a partner-level prepayment forum is, thus,
statutorily estopped. Subject to the requirements of sec. 7422(h), a refund forum may be ‘‘al-
lowed to assert any partner level defenses that may apply or to challenge the amount of the
computational adjustment.’’ Sec. 6230(c)(4).
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 239
mination, its decision is binding unless reversed on appeal’’
(emphasis supplied)).
C. Conclusion
Pursuant to section 6230(a)(1), the penalty may be directly
assessed as a computational adjustment, notwithstanding the
need for partner-level determinations. 24 The issuance of a
purported notice of deficiency cannot trigger deficiency proce-
dures where none applies. See sec. 6230(a)(2)(A)(i); see also
sec. 301.6231(a)(6)–1(a)(3), Proced. & Admin. Regs.
The Court has considered all of petitioners’ and respond-
ent’s contentions, arguments, requests, and statements. To
24 We note a potential ambiguity in the parenthetical phrase ‘‘other than penalties, additions
to tax, and additional amounts that relate to adjustments to partnership items’’ at the end of
sec. 6230(a)(2)(A)(i). The parenthetical phrase carves out these penalties from the set of affected
items requiring partner-level determinations that are always subject to deficiency procedures.
Read without the parenthetical phrase, sec. 6230(a)(2)(A)(i) is explicit that deficiency procedures
‘‘shall apply to any deficiency attributable to * * * affected items which require partner level
determinations’’. (Emphasis supplied.) Thus, one plausible reading of the impact of the par-
enthetical carveout is that deficiency procedures never apply to penalties relating to adjustments
to partnership items. However, an equally plausible reading is that deficiency procedures do not
always apply to these penalties; i.e., deficiency procedures may or may not apply to such a pen-
alty. The latter construction would render elective a notice of deficiency that contains these pen-
alties. Compare supra Discussion, pt. I.A., arguing against the electiveness of an affected items
notice of deficiency with respect to the income tax deficiency shown on the notice. Under this
‘‘elective’’ construction, the validity of an affected items notice of deficiency pertaining to a sec.
6662 penalty relating to an adjustment to a partnership item would not be disturbed by a subse-
quent direct assessment of this penalty.
Because the statutory language is ambiguous, we turn to the regulations for guidance. See
Mayo Found. v. United States, 562 U.S. ll, ll , 131 S. Ct. 704, 713 (2011) (clarifying that
the Commissioner’s regulatory pronouncements are generally entitled to the standard of def-
erence set forth in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, 467 U.S. 837 (1984)).
The governing regulation for petitioners’ tax year at issue, 2001, is sec. 301.6231(a)(6)–1(a)(3),
Proced. & Admin. Regs. Unlike the statute, the regulation is unambiguous that ‘‘any penalty,
addition to tax, or additional amount that relates to an adjustment to a partnership item is not
subject to the deficiency procedures’’. (Emphasis supplied.) The regulation does not eliminate all
‘‘elective’’ phraseology, however; it provides that the penalty ‘‘may be directly assessed * * * fol-
lowing the partnership proceeding, based on determinations in that proceeding, regardless of
whether any partner level determinations may be required.’’ Sec. 301.6231(a)(6)–1(a)(3), Proced.
& Admin. Regs. (emphasis supplied).
The word ‘‘may’’ retains the notion of a choice on the Commissioner’s part. However, in its
context in the regulation, following immediately after a clause that unambiguously rejects the
applicability of deficiency procedures to a penalty, ‘‘may’’ seems to denote a different choice—
not a choice between directly assessing a penalty and subjecting it to deficiency procedures, but
instead a choice between directly assessing the penalty and not assessing it at all. The implica-
tion appears to be that the Commissioner may elect not to assess a penalty against a given tax-
payer partner, and allow this partner to go penalty free, despite successfully defending the as-
serted penalty at the partnership level.
If the regulation governs, any affected items notice of deficiency showing a penalty relating
to an adjustment to a partnership item is invalid. Despite having issued such a notice, the Com-
missioner can proceed with a direct assessment and collection of the penalty, limiting the tax-
payer partner’s recourse to a suit or claim for refund. See sec. 6230(c)(4) (stating that in such
a refund claim or suit, ‘‘a partner shall be allowed to assert any partner level defenses that may
apply’’ to the penalty).
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240 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
the extent not discussed herein, we conclude that they are
meritless, moot, or irrelevant.
To reflect the foregoing,
An order of dismissal for lack of jurisdic-
tion will be entered.
Reviewed by the Court.
COLVIN, HALPERN, VASQUEZ, THORNTON, and PARIS, JJ.,
agree with this majority opinion.
COHEN, J., concurs in the result only.
GUSTAFSON and MORRISON, JJ., did not participate in the
consideration of this opinion.
GOEKE, J., dissenting: The final holding of the majority
opinion is that we do not have jurisdiction because the notice
of deficiency is invalid. I disagree with this conclusion. I con-
clude that I am unable to simply concur in the result because
I believe we have jurisdiction. Because the parties have
resolved the issue which I believe provides jurisdiction and
the other issues were properly resolved in the prior partner-
ship-level case, the jurisdiction issue has no practical effect
on the resolution of this matter but rather only on the
manner the resolution is documented. In future cases, I
believe the question of jurisdiction presented here will not be
so easily resolved and we will be forced to distinguish aspects
of the precedent we create today.
Section 301.6231(a)(6)–1(a), Proced. & Admin. Regs., pro-
vides that ‘‘if a change in a partner’s tax liability cannot be
made without making one or more partner-level determina-
tions’’, the deficiency procedures shall apply to the change(s).
The issue of whether the change in a partner’s tax liability
which results from a partnership determination requires ‘‘one
or more partner-level determinations’’ is acknowledged by
the Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service as a deci-
sion that creates ‘‘uncertainty’’. To account for this
uncertainty the Chief Counsel has issued instructions that
partners who have reported a loss as a result of the sale of
a partnership interest or a distribution by a partnership will
be issued affected items notices of deficiency. Chief Counsel
Notice CC–2009–11 (Mar. 11, 2009). The present case is such
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 241
a situation, and it is clear the notice of deficiency in this case
was not inadvertent.
When faced with similar notices of deficiency issued by the
Commissioner to resolve the uncertainty of whether an issue
requires partner-level determinations, I submit we should
not find such notices of deficiency invalid. We should take
jurisdiction to carefully resolve the uncertainty. This is not
to say that the majority has not carefully resolved the
present case, but the time and effort to address what is
determined to be a jurisdictional issue in itself demonstrates
the impracticality of the majority’s approach. 1
I believe we are legally incorrect in the holding that the
notice of deficiency in the present case is invalid. The deter-
mination of invalidity rests on the restrictions contained in
section 6230(a)(1), which, as the majority states, provides the
deficiency procedures ‘‘shall not apply’’ to computational
adjustments except where the deficiency is attributable to
‘‘affected items which require partner level determinations’’,
in which case the deficiency procedures do apply. Respondent
issued the notice of deficiency because he determined that it
might be required pursuant to section 6230(a)(2)(A)(i). The
present notice of deficiency was issued to resolve whether
there is in fact a deficiency. It determines a deficiency for a
specific year and is identified as a notice of deficiency. These
are the elements of a valid notice. Campbell v. Commissioner,
90 T.C. 110, 115 (1988) (‘‘The notice must advise the tax-
payer that respondent has, in fact, determined a deficiency,
and must specify the year and amount.’’). If a notice incor-
rectly determines a deficiency, we do not lose jurisdiction.
See, e.g., Neely v. Commissioner, 115 T.C. 287 (2000). The
majority finds that respondent’s intentional determination of
a deficiency is invalid and therefore this invalidates the
notice of deficiency. This determination is not supported by
the precedent the majority cites. This case is not based upon
a clear error or inadvertent use of the deficiency procedures.
Respondent clearly and intentionally determined a deficiency
where the existence of a deficiency was uncertain. This
describes the circumstances in our deficiency docket in gen-
eral. After careful scrutiny of facts which were not apparent
1 Petitioners filed their petition on Dec. 19, 2008. Respondent filed his motion to dismiss for
lack of jurisdiction 1 year later on Dec. 2, 2009. After extended briefing and consideration, we
are deciding on Dec. 27, 2011, that we lack jurisdiction.
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242 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
from the face of the notice of deficiency and after a settle-
ment reached by the parties, we now know that the amount
of tax determined in the notice of deficiency was incorrect.
However, our conclusion that the deficiency determined in
the notice was incorrect does not invalidate the notice of defi-
ciency. 2
We should expect this issue to arise in the near future in
the context of other complex partnership issues with complex
partner-level computations. Have we now made the deter-
mination of the correct application of section 6230 in each of
these cases a jurisdictional analysis? I hope not.
KROUPA, J., agrees with this dissent.
HOLMES, J., dissenting: I agree with part II of the majority
opinion—that collateral estoppel precludes the Thompsons
from relitigating the issues of whether outside basis is a
partnership item and whether we had jurisdiction at the
partnership level to sustain the 40-percent penalty for mis-
stating it. I agree with part I of the opinion where it says
that the ‘‘applicability or inapplicability of deficiency proce-
dures under section 6230 is statutorily mandated’’ and that
deficiency procedures either apply or don’t apply, depending
upon whether the deficiency is attributable to any affected
items that require partner-level determinations. But I dis-
agree with the majority’s holding that the final computation
of the Thompsons’ income tax liability requires no partner-
level determinations, which means that I also have to dis-
agree with their decision to dismiss the Thompsons’ entire
case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. I write separately
because I fear that the majority’s analysis of whether an
‘‘affected item requires partner-level determinations’’ is
wrong, and will further muddy this already turbid TEFRA
pond.
I.
The Commissioner’s argument that we lack jurisdiction
depends largely on the related partnership case, RJT Invs. X,
LLC v. Commissioner, docket No. 11769–05 (June 6, 2006),
2 As the majority writes in citing and quoting extensively from Hannan v. Commissioner, 52
T.C. 787 (1969).
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 243
affd. 491 F.3d 732 (8th Cir 2007). In that case we found that
the Thompsons’ partnership was ‘‘formed and/or availed to
overstate artificially the basis of the interest of Randall
Thompson in RJT Investments X, LLC in the amount of
$22,006,759 for purposes of tax avoidance.’’ We also upheld
the penalties that related to those determinations—over the
objections of RJT that we had no jurisdiction to do so—and
entered decision in the case. The Eighth Circuit affirmed in
RJT Invs. X v. Commissioner, 491 F.3d 732 (8th Cir. 2007). 1
After the partnership proceedings, the Commissioner
issued a notice of deficiency which made four adjustments:
• Eliminating the $206 of dividend income reported on
petitioners’ 2001 Schedule B, Interest and Ordinary Divi-
dends, as income from RJT’s Schedule K–1;
• Eliminating the $12,415 capital loss reported on peti-
tioners’ 2001 Schedule D, line 5, as a flowthrough loss from
RJT’s Schedule K–1;
• Eliminating the $81,040 investment expense deduction
reported on Schedule A, Itemized Deductions, line 22, as a
flowthrough deduction from RJT’s Schedule K–1; and
• Eliminating the reported loss on liquidation of RJT
reported on petitioners’ 2001 Schedule D, Capital Gains and
Losses, line 1.
Partnerships don’t pay income tax; partners do. This
means that there has to be another step after a partnership
case is over before the Commissioner can figure out an indi-
vidual partner’s tax bill. The Code calls this a ‘‘computational
adjustment,’’ which is just the bottom-line ‘‘change in the tax
liability of a partner which properly reflects the treatment
* * * of a partnership item.’’ Sec. 6231(a)(6). To make com-
putational adjustments, however, the IRS must follow certain
procedures: Sometimes the IRS has to send each partner a
notice of deficiency, sometimes the IRS can just directly
assess each partner and send him a notice of computational
adjustment, and sometimes the IRS has to do some combina-
tion of both. See sec. 6230(a); sec. 301.6231(a)(6)–1(a),
Proced. & Admin. Regs.; see also Napoliello v. Commissioner,
1 Although the Eighth Circuit affirmed our decision, it nowhere discussed whether we were
right to hold that outside basis is a partnership item. See RJT Invs. X v. Commissioner, 491
F.3d 732 (8th Cir. 2007). The Eighth Circuit stated plainly that the only issues it was deciding
were whether we had properly found RJT to be a sham and whether that determination should
be made at the partnership level. Id. at 735.
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244 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
655 F.3d 1060, 1063–1064 (9th Cir. 2011) (citing Olson v.
United States, 172 F.3d 1311, 1317 (Fed. Cir. 1999)), affg.
T.C. Memo. 2009–104.
Figuring out which adjustments fall into which baskets has
proven to be a major legal problem. The Code’s test is easy
to state: When a computational adjustment is attributable to
an affected item 2 that requires a determination at the
partner level, the Commissioner has to send the partner a
notice of deficiency, which gives him a chance to come to Tax
Court before paying. See sec. 6230(a)(2)(A)(i). The regulation
uses more words, but says the same thing: ‘‘[If] a change in
a partner’s tax liability cannot be made without making one
or more partner-level determinations, that portion of the
change in tax liability attributable to the partner-level deter-
minations shall be made under the deficiency procedures’’.
Sec. 301.6231(a)(6)–1(a)(1), Proced. & Admin. Regs. The Code
and regulations also have a rule that when a partnership-
level determination leads to a computational adjustment that
does not require a partner-level determination, the Commis-
sioner is to assess the increase in tax summarily, send the
partner a notice of computational adjustment, and leave him
to pay and sue for a refund: No ticket to Tax Court for him.
See sec. 6230(a)(1); sec. 301.6231(a)(6)–1(a)(2), Proced. &
Admin. Regs.
This makes a blurry line—between ‘‘items which require
partner level determinations’’ and items which do not—a
blurry line with jurisdictional consequences. 3 It’s usually not
a good idea to make jurisdiction this confusing, and courts
have had to make do with what they can to try to make this
cranny of the Code as clean as possible.
And that leads to this case. The majority concludes that all
of the computational adjustments made in the notice of defi-
ciency that the Commissioner sent to the Thompsons ‘‘follow
directly from the treatment of partnership items determined
2 Affected items aren’t partnership items but are affected by partnership items. See sec.
6231(a)(5).
3 The matter is profoundly ambiguous, and the Secretary should not view our Opinion as fore-
closing the possibility that he could clear this area up much more efficiently through regulation
than the Commissioner has been able to do through litigation. As we pointed out in Tigers Eye
Trading, LLC v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2009–121, he may be en route to doing so. See No-
tice of Proposed Rulemaking, 74 Fed. Reg. 7205 (Feb. 13, 2009) (proposing section 301.6231(c)–
9, Proposed Proced. & Admin. Regs., which would allow the Commissioner, upon notice, to con-
vert all partnership items of an abusive tax shelter partnership to nonpartnership items, there-
by routing partner- and partnership-level disputes through a single deficiency proceeding).
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 245
in the partnership-level proceeding, and none of them
requires any partner-level determinations within the
meaning of section 6230(a)(2) and section 301.6231(a)(6)–
1(a)(2), Proced. & Admin. Regs.’’
I disagree. Remember the list of the four changes the
Commissioner wanted to make to the Thompsons’ tax bill
after RJT Investments was over:
• Eliminating the $206 of dividend income from RJT’s
Schedule K–1;
• Eliminating the $12,415 capital loss from RJT’s Schedule
K–1;
• Eliminating the $81,040 investment expense deduction
from RJT’s Schedule K–1; and
• Eliminating the reported loss on liquidation of RJT from
the Thompson’s Schedule D.
The fourth item stands out—why’s the Commissioner
eliminating an item from the individual partner’s tax return
when that item doesn’t appear on the partnership’s own
return?
A.
The majority says that we can go ahead and eliminate it
anyway because we’ve decided in RJT Investments that the
partnership was a sham, and no one can take a loss in dis-
posing of an interest in a sham partnership. 4 I don’t dis-
agree. But it doesn’t quite answer the jurisdictional question
that we have—does a taxpayer get to come to our Court to
learn this lesson, or does he have to go to a refund court to
hear the same bad news?
Finding the correct (or at least a better) answer, I think,
begins with a look at what it was exactly that the Commis-
sioner did after RJT Investments was over. In RJT Invest-
ments we held that the Thompsons’ outside basis was a part-
nership item and determined it to be zero, 5 so the Commis-
4 Or to put it in more sophisticated language, the consequence of determining a partnership
to be a sham is to say that the rules of subchapter K don’t apply. This means we disregard
the partnership as an entity separate from its partners, and treat the assets of the disregarded
partnership as if they were owned directly by the purported partners.
5 Since the Eighth Circuit’s decision in RJT Investments, the D.C. and Federal Circuits have
held that there’s no jurisdiction at the partnership level to determine a partner’s outside basis
in a partnership because it’s an affected item, not a partnership item. See Jade Trading, LLC
v. United States, 598 F.3d 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2010), affg. in part, revg. in part, vacating in part
Continued
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246 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
sioner made a conforming change to the Thompsons’ return.
He issued them a notice of deficiency in which he adjusted
their outside basis in RJT to zero. This certainly made the
treatment of outside basis at the partner level consistent
with its treatment at the partnership level. 6 This particular
adjustment doesn’t involve any partner-level determina-
tions—section 301.6231(a)(6)–1(a)(2), Proced. & Admin.
Regs., tells us that ‘‘substituting redetermined partnership
items for the partner’s previously reported partnership items
* * * does not constitute a partner-level determination.’’
The problem is that merely zeroing out the Thompsons’
outside basis doesn’t get the Thompsons their correct tax
liability. That’s why the Commissioner’s computational
adjustment was off—he skipped a partner-level step.
The notice of deficiency zeroed out the Thompsons’ outside
basis by substituting zero for the more than $22 million basis
that they had reported, and then increasing their taxable
income by $22,006,759 of ‘‘Short-Term Capital Gain/Loss.’’
Although the $22,006,759 amount does appear on the
Thompsons’ return, that was not the amount of the loss that
they reported for the disposition of their interest in RJT:
Description of Date acquired/ Sale Cost or Gain or
property date sold price other basis (loss)
Liquidation of
RJT Invest- 10/12/01
ments X, LLC 12/21/01 $986,759 $22,006,759 ($21,020,000)
Stipulation of Facts, Exhibit 2–J. As one can see from this
exhibit, their claimed loss was $21,020,000. This means that
the Commissioner ended up converting the Thompsons’ fic-
tional loss into a fictional $986,759 gain.
It’s not that the Commissioner had the correct mathe-
matical formula and just made a math error. As we
explained in Huffman v. Commissioner, 126 T.C. 322, 344–
345 (2006), affd. 518 F.3d 357 (6th Cir. 2008), there is a
distinction between a ‘‘mathematical error’’ and omitting a
step that requires math. Mathematical or clerical errors gen-
and remanding in part 80 Fed. Cl. 11 (2007); Petaluma FX Partners, LLC v. Commissioner,
591
F.3d 649 (D.C. Cir. 2010), affg. in part, revg. in part, vacating in part and remanding in part
131 T.C. 84 (2008).
6 Although I do not believe—certainly after two circuits have both ruled the same way—that
we had jurisdiction over outside basis at the partnership level, the Thompsons are collaterally
estopped from attacking our contrary decision in their case.
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 247
erally include typographical mistakes, or errors in addition,
subtraction, multiplication, or division. See sec. 6213(g)(2). If
the computational adjustment was incorrect only because the
Commissioner made a mathematical or clerical error while
applying the correct mathematical formula, then I would
agree that it wouldn’t require any partner-level determina-
tions within the meaning of section 6230(a)(2)(A)(i). 7
But in this case, the Commissioner also needed to make
another adjustment—either reducing the Thompsons’
reported sale price for RJT from $986,759 to zero, or reducing
their reported short-term capital gains to zero, or both. Nei-
ther the sale price (which, I acknowledge, was nothing more
than the return of most of the cash that the Thompsons put
into the deal) nor the short-term loss is anywhere to be found
on RJT’s return.
This becomes a bigger problem after the Courts of Appeals’
decisions in Jade Trading and Petaluma, with their holdings
that outside basis isn’t even a partnership item. See Jade
Trading, LLC v. United States, 598 F.3d 1372 (Fed. Cir.
2010), affg. in part, revg. in part, vacating in part and
remanding in part 80 Fed. Cl. 11 (2007); Petaluma FX Part-
ners, LLC v. Commissioner, 591 F.3d 649 (D.C. Cir. 2010),
affg. in part, revg. in part, vacating in part and remanding
in part 131 T.C. 84 (2008). Without the benefit of collateral
estoppel, would we be able to hold that the disallowance of
a loss like this one can be made without a partner-level
determination, when outside basis, the sale price, and the
resulting loss are nowhere on the partnership’s return?
B.
The problem springs from an ambiguity in the phrase
‘‘affected items which require partner level determinations.’’
The Code doesn’t define ‘‘determinations’’ or ‘‘requires’’, and
the majority doesn’t try to do it either. But a minute’s reflec-
tion suggests that there are at least two plausible readings
of the phrase. The first is one that construes the phrase to
7 See Bush v. United States, 655 F.3d 1323 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (holding that when the IRS simply
has to perform mathematical calculations—i.e., plug numbers into a formula—to determine a
partner’s tax liability, it is a computational adjustment that does not require further determina-
tions at the partner level); Gosnell v. United States, 107 AFTR 2d 2011–2748, 2011–2 USTC
par. 50,488 (D. Ariz. 2011) (finding that no partner-level determination was needed because the
substitution of a forty-percent penalty and disallowance of out-of-pocket costs required only
mathematical calculations).
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248 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
read ‘‘affected items which require legal or factual partner-
level determinations.’’ If this reading is the better one, then
deficiency procedures apply to a computational adjustment
that requires any question of fact or law to be decided at the
partner level before the Commissioner can make the com-
putational adjustment.
A second reading is one that construes the phrase to read
‘‘affected items which, on the facts of this particular case,
require partner-level factual determinations.’’ The majority
adopts the second reading, but without discussing any alter-
native. 8
One problem with this reading is that determinations
aren’t just factual—it’s well settled that determinations can
be legal, factual, or some combination of both. 9 Section
301.6231(a)(3)–1(b), Proced. & Admin. Regs., also con-
templates this when it explains that a ‘‘ ‘partnership item’
includes * * * legal and factual determinations that underlie
the determination of the amount, timing, and characteriza-
tion of items of income, credit, gain, loss, deduction, etc.’’
The term ‘‘determination’’ refers to deciding something’s
nature or outcome. See Terminal Wine Co. v. Commissioner,
1 B.T.A. 697, 701 (1925) (stating that a determination is ‘‘the
final decision by which the controversy as to the deficiency
is settled and terminated, and by which a final conclusion is
reached relative thereto and the extent and measure of the
deficiency defined’’). 10 ‘‘By its very definition and etymology
the word * * * irresistibly connotes consideration, resolution,
conclusion, and judgment.’’ Scar v. Commissioner, 814 F.2d
8 Words in a statute generally must be interpreted according to their ordinary, everyday
meaning. See, e.g., Commissioner v. Soliman, 506 U.S. 168, 174 (1993). We should only adopt
a ‘‘restricted rather than a literal or usual meaning of its words where acceptance of that mean-
ing would * * * thwart the obvious purpose of the statute.’’ Commissioner v. Brown, 380 U.S.
563, 571 (1965). As I illustrate infra part I.C., the majority’s limited construction of the word
‘‘determinations’’ in fact thwarts the obvious purpose of TEFRA.
9 See, e.g., Smith v. Massachusetts, 543 U.S. 462, 468 (2005) (noting a distinction between
‘‘legal rather than factual determination[s]’’ with regard to certain criminal procedural safe-
guards); Fid. Intl. Currency Advisor A Fund v. United States, 661 F.3d 667 (1st Cir. 2011) (not-
ing that the trial court made various factual and legal determinations with regard to disallowed
digital option transactions); Napoliello v. Commissioner, 655 F.3d 1060, 1065 (9th Cir. 2011) (re-
jecting petitioner’s contention that section 301.6231(a)(3)–1(b), Proced. & Admin Regs., encom-
passes only accounting items and the factual and legal determinations underpinning the same),
affg. T.C. Memo. 2009–104.
10 See also Rule 155(a) (‘‘Where the Court has filed or stated its opinion determining the
issues in a case, it may withhold entry of its decision for the purpose of permitting the parties
to submit computations pursuant to the Court’s determination of the issues showing the correct
amount to be included in the decision.’’).
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 249
1363, 1368 (9th Cir. 1987) (citing Terminal Wine Co., 1
B.T.A. at 701).
I can’t say that the majority’s reading is without support
in our caselaw. It comes from our decision in N.C.F. Energy
Partners and cases that apply its holding. See N.C.F. Energy
Partners v. Commissioner, 89 T.C. 741 (1987), superseded by
statute on other grounds; 11 see also Callaway v. Commis-
sioner, 231 F.3d 106, 110 (2d Cir. 2000), revg. T.C. Memo.
1998–99; Adkison v. Commissioner, 129 T.C. 97, 102 (2007),
affd. 592 F.3d 1050 (9th Cir. 2010); Crowell v. Commissioner,
102 T.C. 683, 689 (1994); Carmel v. Commissioner,
98 T.C.
265, 268 (1992); Woody v. Commissioner,
95 T.C. 193, 202
(1990); Dial, USA, Inc. v. Commissioner, 95 T.C. 1, 6 (1990).
In N.C.F. Energy Partners we noted the distinction
between affected items requiring only a computational
adjustment that can be directly assessed and those subject to
subsequent deficiency proceedings. 89 T.C. 743–744.
Although we said that affected items are subject to deficiency
procedures if they require factual determinations at the
partner level, we did not use ‘‘factual’’ in any way that
implied that we were saying that affected items are not sub-
ject to deficiency procedures if they require ‘‘legal’’ deter-
minations at the partner level. See id. at 744. 12
Look again at what the majority is doing in its opinion—
it is making a legal determination that the Thompsons may
not claim any loss at the partner level from the liquidation
of their partnership interest because we held in RJT Invest-
ments that the partnership was an economic sham. 13 This is
11 Before the 1997 amendments, TEFRA provided for the determination of all penalties at the
partner level. See N.C.F. Energy Partners v. Commissioner, 89 T.C. 741, 744–745 (1987). This
is because penalties imposed on a partner because of an adjustment to a partnership item are
‘‘affected items.’’ But amendments to TEFRA in 1997 changed this structure and provided for
the determination of some penalties at the partnership level.
12 The example we gave in N.C.F. Energy Partners of an affected item requiring deficiency pro-
cedures—the addition to tax for negligence pursuant to section 6662(b)(1) (former section
6653(a))—is itself one that requires both factual findings and also a legal determination that
(i) the facts are sufficient to establish negligent disregard for tax rules and regulations and (ii)
that no exception or excuse applies. 89 T.C. 744–745.
13 By way of analogy: Where a taxpayer has previously been convicted of a crime involving
tax fraud, such as criminal tax evasion under section 7201, he is collaterally estopped from de-
nying the existence of fraud with regard to any civil penalties the Commissioner asserts under
section 6663. See, e.g., DiLeo v. Commissioner, 96 T.C. 858, 885 (1991), affd.
959 F.2d 16 (2d
Cir. 1992). We don’t lose jurisdiction despite the lack of triable factual issues with regard to
imposing the fraud penalty, but rather find for the Commissioner based upon collateral estoppel,
making a legal determination that the civil fraud penalty applies. See, e.g., Williams v. Commis-
sioner, T.C. Memo. 2009–81; Anderson v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2009–44.
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250 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
a legal determination because it resolves a question of law—
namely, whether anyone in the Thompsons’ situation is enti-
tled to claim such a loss. See McCarthy Trust v. Commis-
sioner, 817 F.2d 558, 559 (9th Cir. 1987) (stating that when
the parties do not dispute the substance of the transaction,
‘‘Application of the Internal Revenue Code * * * is a ques-
tion of law’’), affg. 86 T.C. 781 (1986). But it’s a legal deter-
mination that the majority’s making at the partner level
without even realizing it 14—after all, in RJT Investments, we
didn’t and couldn’t redetermine the Thompsons’ reported loss
from the liquidation of their interest in RJT at the partner-
ship level because it wasn’t a partnership item 15 or a penalty
that related to an adjustment to a partnership item. See sec.
6226(f) (laying out our partnership-level jurisdiction). The
Thompsons’ loss is an affected item that must be determined
(i.e., allowed or disallowed) at the partner level. See
Petaluma FX Partners, LLC v. Commissioner, 591 F.3d at
655.
The determination in RJT Investments that RJT is a sham
is certainly the determination of a ‘‘partnership item,’’ but
the effect this has on the Thompsons’ claimed capital loss
from the disposition of their interest in RJT is nevertheless
one step removed from the partnership level. It seems such
an easy step to take, but the conclusion that the Thompsons
can’t claim a loss on disposition of RJT is a low-hanging fruit
that we shouldn’t be touching at the partnership level: It’s an
affected item that requires a determination at the partner
level (no matter how obvious or easy it seems) before the
Commissioner can pluck, peel, and eat it.
The sham determination only indirectly affects the loss
reported by the Thompsons for the liquidation of their
interest in RJT, and doesn’t just flow through to the partners’
14 In note 18, the majority concludes: ‘‘[E]ven if we assume that applying sec. 165(c)(2) to deny
a loss on liquidating a partnership interest is an ‘affected item’ to be determined in a partner-
level proceeding, such a determination requires no further partner-level facts once the partner-
ship activities have been deemed to lack economic substance.’’ Majority op. note 18 (emphasis
added).
15 Section 6231(a)(3) defines ‘‘partnership item’’ as ‘‘[(A)] any item required to be taken into
account for the partnership’s taxable year under any provision of subtitle A[, (B)] to the extent
regulations prescribed by the Secretary provide that, for purposes of this subtitle, [(C)] such
item is more appropriately determined at the partnership level than at the partner level.’’ Part-
nership items include factors that affect the determination of partnership items such as the
‘‘legal and factual determinations that underlie the determination of the amount, timing, and
characterization of items of income, credit, gain, loss, deduction, etc.’’ Sec. 301.6231(a)(3)–1(b),
Proced. & Admin. Regs.
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 251
returns as a numerical adjustment. This is consistent with
our holding in Petaluma on remand. 135 T.C. 581, 587
(2010). In that Opinion, we held that a sham determination
only indirectly affects outside basis at the partner level. Id.
We also held that the sham determination didn’t flow
through to the partners’ returns as a numerical computa-
tional adjustment. Id.
Plus, the Thompsons’ loss from the liquidation of their
interest doesn’t look like the kind of affected item the regula-
tions say can be adjusted without any partner-level deter-
minations. Section 301.6231(a)(6)–1(a)(2), Proced. & Admin.
Regs., says:
Changes in a partner’s tax liability with respect to affected items that do
not require partner-level determinations (such as the threshold amount of
medical deductions under section 213 that changes as the result of deter-
minations made at the partnership level) are computational adjustments
that are directly assessed.
This regulation tells us that exemptions, credits, and deduc-
tions that have percentage limitations based on the tax-
payer’s adjusted gross income are types of affected items that
don’t require partner-level determinations—it’s something
anyone with a calculator can do as a math chore without the
need for any fact finding or even simple legal analysis at the
partner level.
I also think that it’s important to consider, when thinking
about whether a computational adjustment requires partner-
level determinations, whether a partner had the opportunity
at the partnership level to dispute all issues of law and fact
that will affect the computational adjustment. See Randell v.
United States, 64 F.3d 101, 108 (2d Cir. 1995). Otherwise we
may see cases like the Thompsons’ again in a collection due
process proceeding. 16 See Manko v. Commissioner, 126 T.C.
195 (2006).
16 Once the Commissioner assesses a tax, he is allowed to collect any unpaid portion of it by
filing liens against, and levying on, a taxpayer’s property. The Code allows taxpayers a collection
due process hearing before the IRS can use a lien or levy to collect the unpaid taxes. See secs.
6320, 6330. We have jurisdiction to review the Commissioner’s determinations after such hear-
ings. Our review of the Commissioner’s determinations in cases like the Thompsons’ would be
de novo, inasmuch as the partner never received a notice of deficiency or had the opportunity
to dispute his underlying tax liability. See Grunsted v. Commissioner, 136 T.C. 455, 458 n.4
(2011); Prince v. Commissioner, 133 T.C. 270, 274 (2009); Lindberg v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo.
2010–67.
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252 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
C.
It’s true, as the majority points out in note 5, that the
Ninth Circuit didn’t ‘‘reach the question of whether the
notice of deficiency would be invalid if no partner-level [fac-
tual] determination[s] were necessary.’’ Napoliello, 655 F.3d
at 1064 n.1. But the Ninth Circuit also noted that such a
‘‘proposition would deprive taxpayers of procedural safe-
guards were we to adopt it.’’ Id. I fear that the majority’s
construction of ‘‘determinations’’ won’t work well and will
lead to results contrary to TEFRA’s purpose.
This case shows us how that might happen—the majority’s
approach deprives the Thompsons of a prepayment forum to
challenge the Commissioner’s disallowance of the loss. Maybe
that doesn’t make a lot of difference in this case—it’s hard
to see how the Thompsons would care about whether we
have jurisdiction because (if we did have jurisdiction) we’d
exercise it to disallow their loss and find them collaterally
estopped from disputing the penalty at issue.
But taking a case to conference usually means that we
think it should be analyzed for its effects on tax law more
generally. Our holding today, I suggest, means that in future
cases we will need to conduct a case-by-case analysis as to
whether a particular taxpayer’s reported loss on the liquida-
tion of his partnership interest could be adjusted in a notice
of computational adjustment or only in a notice of deficiency.
This kind of individualized case processing would, I fear,
defeat a major purpose of TEFRA. Congress has always made
it clear that ‘‘[p]artnership proceedings under rules enacted
in TEFRA, must be kept separate [and distinct] from defi-
ciency proceedings involving the partners in their individual
capacities.’’ H. Conf. Rept. 105–220, at 677 (1997), 1997–4
C.B. (Vol. 2) 1471, 2147; see also Maxwell v. Commissioner,
87 T.C. 783, 788, 793 (1986). This is not only clear from the
legislative history, but also from the Code itself. Secs. 6221,
6226(f), 6230, 6231. Congress tried to draw a thick line
between partnership-tax matters and all other tax items of
the partners—presumably for administrative efficiency. See
Maxwell, 87 T.C. 793.
A case-by-case patrolling of the border between affected
items that do and don’t require partner-level factual deter-
minations only increases the probability that the IRS’s bulk-
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(220) THOMPSON v. COMMISSIONER 253
processing employees will make what we will later call a mis-
take. What happened after Petaluma illustrates this
problem: The IRS released Chief Counsel Notice CC–2009–11
on March 11, 2009, because it was uncertain as to how a
reviewing court would classify particular items. The notice
instructs the IRS to issue both a notice of deficiency and a
notice of computational adjustment for the same items and
amounts. Our decision today only complicates matters. Not
wanting to blow the statute of limitations, the Commissioner
will protect the Treasury by doubling the notices in every
case and forcing the courts to decide each one. This is a nec-
essary consequence of blurring general distinctions to be
more precise in individual cases. It’s not a development we
should encourage.
The majority’s construction of affected items subject to
deficiency proceedings as only those requiring partner-level
factual determinations also threatens to cause inconsistent
treatment between partners. When we require each partner
to litigate the issue of whether computational adjustments
require partner-level factual determinations, we risk treating
partners of the same partnership differently even in our
Court. (And refund courts may also disagree with our
characterization of computational adjustments that can be
directly assessed.)
A computational adjustment relating to a loss reported by
a partner on the liquidation of his interest is just the type
of item that should be routed through deficiency procedures
because it may require partner-level factual determinations,
and will always require a partner-level legal determination.
In similar cases there might be factual questions raised by
the Commissioner’s treatment of, for example, the other
components that a partner considered in computing his
claimed loss (e.g., the cash or property he received from the
disregarded partnership). And in all such cases the computa-
tional adjustment for the loss will require a partner-level
legal determination on the effects of the partnership-level
proceeding. An individual partner’s loss on disposition of his
partnership interest cannot be determined at the partnership
level. We therefore should assert jurisdiction at the partner
level, because correctly redetermining the loss will generally
require us to answer questions of both law and fact. I believe
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254 137 UNITED STATES TAX COURT REPORTS (220)
this is a permissible construction of section 6230(a)(2), and
one that we should have adopted.
II.
Conclusion
The silt we stir today will cloud the cases we plunge into
tomorrow. I respectfully dissent.
KROUPA, J., agrees with this dissent.
f
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