An appropriate order and decision will be entered.
THORNTON,
On June 14, 2004, respondent assessed petitioners' Federal income tax liabilities for taxable years 1993 through 1996. 2 On July 30, 2007, respondent sent petitioners a Final Notice—Notice Of Intent To Levy And Notice Of Your Right To A Hearing for unpaid tax liabilities totaling $599,687 for taxable years 1993 through 1996. In response, petitioners submitted a timely Form 12153, Request for a Collection Due Process 2012 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 100">*101 or Equivalent Hearing. The Form 12153 indicated that petitioners wished to pursue a collection alternative, checking the box for "Offer in Compromise".
On January 11, 2008, petitioners submitted a Form 656, Offer in Compromise, indicating that they wished to pursue an offer-in-compromise due to doubt as to collectibility. 3 Petitioners offered to pay $295,805 in 60 monthly payments of $4,930 each. In arriving at the amount of their offer, they calculated their average monthly income to be $8,746. 42012 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 100">*102
On November 18, 2008, respondent's settlement officer held a hearing with petitioners' representative. According to the settlement officer's case activity record, he informed the representative that he had calculated petitioners' average monthly income to be $17,105, rather than $8,746, as indicated in the attachment to their Form 656. The difference between these two amounts was due largely to differing assumptions about petitioners' available income from several S corporations in which they held interests. 5 Petitioners' calculation included a three-year average of distributions they had actually received from the S corporations. By contrast, the settlement officer's calculation included petitioners' pro rata share of income from the S corporations as reported on their 2006 and 2007 Federal income tax returns, without regard to whether they actually received this income. The settlement officer also determined 2012 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 100">*103 petitioners' allowable monthly living expenses to be $6,729, rather than the $8,672 that they had indicated. As a result, according to his case activity record, the settlement officer advised petitioners' representative that he had calculated their reasonable collection potential (RCP) to be "in excess of $1.3 million". 6
On November 25, 2008, petitioners' representative and the settlement officer had a followup conference. According 2012 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 100">*104 to his case activity record, the settlement officer acknowledged the disagreement about the proper treatment of petitioners' S corporation income but indicated that irrespective of this issue he believed their offer-in-compromise was inadequate because it failed to reflect the current value of their interests in various S corporations. The settlement officer indicated that he had determined the net realizable equity (NRE) of the real estate owned by their wholly owned S corporation, BMV, Inc., to be over $364,000, which was significantly greater than the amount of their offer. He asked whether petitioners could increase their offer or propose a different collection alternative. Petitioners requested more time to consider their options. On January 5, 2009, the settlement officer noted in his case activity record that no further response or information had been received from petitioners.
On January 21, 2009, respondent issued to petitioners a Notice of Determination Concerning Collection Action(s) Under
Summary judgment is intended to expedite litigation and avoid unnecessary and expensive trials.
The only issue petitioners have raised in their objection to respondent's motion for summary judgment is the settlement officer's rejection of their proposed offer-in-compromise. We review this issue for abuse of discretion.
In his motion for summary judgment, without conceding any error by the settlement officer, respondent asserts that even if one were to assume, solely for purposes of his motion, the accuracy of "many" of the items reflected in petitioners' offer amount, their computation nevertheless contains "clear errors". Respondent asserts that correcting these errors would indicate that, consistent with petitioners' own assumptions, their offer should have been no less than $349,740, rather than the $295,805 they actually offered. Petitioners do not dispute this conclusion; to the contrary, they state that they will "assume Respondent's changes are correct". They observe, however, that "the difference between $349,740 and Petitioners' offer of $295,805 is a lot less than the difference between $1,296,531 [their RCP as determined by the settlement officer] and $295,805." They assert that had the settlement officer determined their RCP to be $349,740, they would have been "ready, willing, and able to make 2012 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 100">*109 a counter-offer in that amount." Citing
Whatever error the settlement officer might have made in calculating petitioners' RCP—and respondent does not expressly concede that the settlement officer made any error—the undisputed fact remains that petitioners could afford to pay significantly more than they offered. In these circumstances, notwithstanding alleged errors in the settlement officer's calculation of petitioners' RCP, he did not abuse his discretion in rejecting their offer.
Unlike
Petitioners assert that they would have counteroffered $349,740 if the settlement officer had properly advised them that this was the correct amount of their RCP. But petitioners have effectively conceded that it was their own errors that caused their offer to understate the amount they could afford to pay, even under their own financial assumptions. The settlement officer did not abuse his discretion in rejecting their admittedly too low offer. 92012 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 100">*112
In their opposition to respondent's motion for summary judgment, petitioners have not asserted that there is any dispute as to any issue of material fact such that a decision may not be rendered as a matter of law. Apart from challenging the rejection of their offer-in-compromise, petitioners' opposition to respondent's motion for summary judgment raises no issue that would suggest that respondent has otherwise failed to satisfy the requirements of
To reflect the foregoing,
1. Unless otherwise indicated, all Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure, and all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code. All monetary amounts have been rounded to the nearest dollar.↩
2. Although the record is inconclusive on this point, it appears that petitioners filed Federal income tax returns for the years at issue but underpaid the taxes reported thereon and that respondent subsequently determined a deficiency for each year at issue.↩
3. On the Form 656 petitioners proposed to compromise their individual income tax liabilities for tax years 1993 through 1996, as well as outstanding liabilities from Forms 945, Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax, for Vanmali Construction Co. for tax years 1994 and 1995.↩
4. A spreadsheet attached to the Form 656 detailed petitioners' calculation of their offer amount. It indicated that petitioners had $8,746 in monthly income and $8,672 in monthly necessary living expenses; the $74 difference between income and expenses was then multiplied by 48 months to arrive at a future income value of $3,552. This number was added to petitioners' reported $292,253 of equity in their assets to arrive at their offer of $295,805.
5. According to Forms 1120S, U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation, filed for tax year 2006, petitioners wholly owned one S corporation, BMV, Inc., and held partial ownership interests in seven other S corporations.↩
6. Although the case activity record is unclear on this point, the settlement officer appears to have arrived at this conclusion by multiplying the $10,376 difference between his calculation of petitioners' average monthly income and allowable monthly living expenses by the 112 months remaining in the collection period of limitations to compute the future value component of petitioners' RCP. The settlement officer appears to have then added that component to his calculation of the present value of petitioners' various assets to arrive at their RCP.↩
7. The attachment to the notice of determination sets forth respondent's calculation of petitioners' RCP and includes $17,105 in average monthly income based on petitioners' 2006 and 2007 individual Federal income tax returns. The calculation does not include petitioners' NRE in each of their various businesses.↩
8. In
9. We note that it also seems unlikely that the settlement officer would have considered an offer of $349,740 to adequately reflect petitioners' ability to pay. According to his case activity record, he had determined that the NRE of petitioners' wholly owned S corporation exceeded this amount. The record indicates that although the settlement officer raised this issue with petitioners and gave them an opportunity to respond, they never did so.