JOAN N. ERICKSEN, District Judge.
This is an action by Gerald Buchanan against the United States for wrongful cloud on title to property, wrongful levy, and wrongful collection. The case is before the Court on the United States' Motion for Partial Dismissal and Buchanan's Motion for Summary Judgment. For the reasons stated below, the Court grants the United States' motion and denies Buchanan's motion.
The United States moved to dismiss Buchanan's claim for wrongful collection, 26 U.S.C. § 7433 (2012), for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), (6). Section 7433 states:
26 U.S.C. § 7433(a). Buchanan alleged that the United States had issued notices of intent to levy on his property, that the notices of intent to levy seek to collect taxes or penalties that are allegedly owed by business trusts,
Section 7433 "provides a remedy only for improper collection activities, not for an improper assessment of taxes. Thus, courts have not permitted a taxpayer's § 7433 damages action when the gravamen of the claim is that the IRS improperly assessed tax liability." Sande v. United States, 323 F. App'x 812, 814 (11th Cir. 2009); see Henry v. United States, 360 F. App'x 654, 657 (7th Cir. 2010) ("[C]ivil remedies for improper collection activity, see 26 U.S.C. §§ 7432, 7433, cannot be used to disguise what is fundamentally a dispute about the underlying tax liability."); Parenti v. United States, 125 F. App'x 904, 904 (9th Cir. 2005) ("Parenti's claim for damages is barred first because he has failed to show that the United States has waived its sovereign immunity from suit. Parenti cannot use 26 U.S.C. § 7433 (which authorizes suits against the United States for tax collection misconduct) in order to challenge the IRS determination that Parenti is liable for federal income taxes for 1994."); Jaeger v. U.S. Gov't, 524 F.Supp.2d 60, 63-64 (D.D.C. 2007) ("[S]ection 7433 does not provide a cause of action for wrongful tax assessment, the absence of a tax assessment, or other actions not related to the collection of income tax.").
United States v. Galletti, 541 U.S. 114, 123 (2004); see United States v. Holmes, 727 F.3d 1230, 1234-35 (10th Cir. 2013) ("Mr. Holmes contends that we should confine Galletti to its facts, that it would be an extension of the holding of that case to apply it to this case in which the IRS is pursuing a shareholder of a corporation which was delinquent in its taxes. But the logic and language of Galletti are not so easily cabined, we believe. The IRS was not required to separately assess the taxes against Mr. Holmes individually . . . .").
The claim for wrongful collection rests on Buchanan's allegations that the United States failed to separately assess the taxes and penalties against him and that he does not owe the taxes and penalties. The claim does not fall within the scope of the United States' waiver of sovereign immunity in § 7433. See Parenti, 125 F. App'x at 904; Dockery v. U.S. Dep't of Treasury, 593 F.Supp.2d 258, 261 (D.D.C.) ("The Court concludes that plaintiff's claims arise from the IRS' assessment of taxes rather than from the collection of taxes by levy. These claims, therefore, fall beyond the scope of Section 7433's limited waiver of sovereign immunity, thus depriving this Court of subject matter jurisdiction."), aff'd, 358 F. App'x 206 (D.C. Cir. 2009). The Court therefore grants the United States' motion and dismisses the claim for wrongful collection for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
At the motion hearing, the Court denied Buchanan's motion. The United States has not filed an answer.
Based on the files, records, and proceedings herein, and for the reasons stated above, IT IS ORDERED THAT:
3. The claim for wrongful collection, Count IV of the Second Amended Complaint, is DISMISSED for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.