Jardine v. United States, C12-1421RSL

• Decision Date: 17 January 2013
• Docket Number: No. C12-1421RSL,C12-1421RSL
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Washington
• Parties: JOHN JARDINE, Administrator of the Estate of Warren Vaupel, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant.

JOHN JARDINE, Administrator of the Estate of Warren Vaupel, Plaintiff,

v.UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant.

No. C12-1421RSL

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE

Dated: January 17, 2013

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO

DISMISS FOR LACK OF SUBJECT

MATTER JURISDICTION

This matter comes before the Court on the "United States' Motion to Dismiss." Dkt. # 8. The United States Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") denied plaintiff's claim for a refund of federal income taxes as barred by the three-year limitations period. 26 U.S.C. § 6511(b)(2)(A). While plaintiff concedes that the refund claim was filed more than three years from the date the return was filed or two years from the time the tax was paid, he argues that the limitations period was tolled because the taxpayer was under a financial disability during much of the relevant period.

In United States v. Brockamp, 519 U.S. 347, 350 (1997), the Supreme Court unanimously concluded that equitable tolling of the time limitations set forth in 26 U.S.C. § 6511 on nonstatutory grounds was inappropriate. The following year, Congress enacted 26 U.S.C. § 6511(h) to statutorily suspend the running of the limitations period while a taxpayer isunable to manage his or her financial affairs due to a disability. The statute generally defines financial disability and states that "[a]n individual shall not be considered to have such an impairment unless proof of the existence thereof is furnished in such form and manner as the Secretary may require." 26 U.S.C. § 6511(h)(2)(A). Revenue Procedure 99-21, issued by the IRS in 1999, sets forth the "form and manner" the Secretary requires to prove that a taxpayer was "unable to manage his financial affairs by reason of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment." Id.

SECTION 1. PURPOSE

This revenue procedure describes the information that is required under § 6511(h)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code in order to request suspension of the period of limitations under § 6511 for claiming a credit or refund of tax due to an individual taxpayer's financial disability. This information is required to be submitted with the taxpayer's claim for credit or refund of tax.

* * * *

SECTION 4. PROCEDURE

Unless otherwise provided in IRS forms and instructions, the following statements are to be submitted with a claim for credit or refund of tax to claim financial disability for purposes of § 6511(h).

(1) a written statement by a physician . . . qualified to make the determination, that sets forth:

(a) the name and description of the taxpayer's physical or mental impairment;

(b) the physician's medical opinion that the physical or mental impairment prevented the taxpayer from managing the taxpayer's financial affairs;

(c) the physician's medical opinion that the physical or mental impairment was or can be expected to result in death, or that it has lasted (or can be expected to last) for a continuous period of not less than 12 months;

(d) to the best of the physician's knowledge, the specific time period duringwhich the taxpayer was prevented by such physical or mental impairment from managing the taxpayer's financial affairs; and

(e) the following certification, signed by the physician:

I hereby certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the above representations are true, correct, and complete.

(2) A written statement by the person signing the claim for credit or refund that no person, including the taxpayer's spouse, was authorized to act on behalf of the taxpayer in financial matters during the period described in paragraph (1)(d) of this section. Alternatively, if a person [were] authorized to act on behalf of the taxpayer in financial matters during any party of the period described in paragraph (1)(d), the beginning and ending dates of the period of time the person was so authorized.

Rev. Proc. 99-21.

It is undisputed that the claim for refund filed on behalf of the taxpayer in this case did not comply with Rev. Proc. 99-21. Although plaintiff now claims that the taxpayer was financially disabled from 2003 onward, the documents submitted to the IRS in support of the claimed financial disability showed only that, as of July 2009, the taxpayer had cognitive deficiencies, was unable to manage his financial affairs, and had a court appointed legal guardian. Neither certifying physician attempted to link the taxpayer's disability and/or financial incapacity to any time period before July 2009. Considered as a whole, the documents submitted to the IRS failed to reveal any period of financial disability, and the claim for refund was denied.

Although the sovereign has waived its immunity and consented to suit by a taxpayer seeking a tax refund, the waiver is limited by 26 U.S.C. § 7422(a) which requires the timely filing of an administrative refund claim as a jurisdictional prerequisite to bringing suit in federal court. Zeier v. U.S. Internal Revenue Serv., 80 F.3d 1360, 1363 (9th Cir. 1996). Plaintiff argues that he satisfied the jurisdictional hurdle by filing an administrative claim,regardless of its defects, and is therefore entitled to appeal the denial. Simply filing a claim for refund and putting the IRS on notice that the taxpayer is alleging financial disability is not sufficient, however. See Abston v. Comm'r of Internal Rev. Serv., 691 F.3d 992, 995 (8th Cir. 2012) (collecting cases in which appeals...