Sydnes v. C. I. R., 80-2074
| Decision Date | 29 April 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-2074,80-2074 |
| Citation | 647 F.2d 813 |
| Parties | 81-1 USTC P 9393 Richard J. SYDNES, Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Richard J. Sydnes, pro se.
John F. Murray, Acting Asst. Atty. Gen., Michael L. Paup, Richard W. Perkins, Michael J. Roach, Tax Division, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for appellee.
Before BRIGHT, Circuit Judge, GIBSON, Senior Circuit Judge, and HENLEY, Circuit Judge.
Richard J. Sydnes appeals from a decision of the Tax Court 1 determining a deficiency of $166.88 in income tax due for tax year 1975 and assessing damages of $500.00 against him for instituting this proceeding merely for delay. We affirm the decision of the Tax Court.
Sydnes filed a 1971 income tax return on which he claimed an alimony deduction of $545.30 in mortgage payments made pursuant to a July 9, 1971 dissolution of marriage decree. A deficiency assessment resulted when the Commissioner disallowed the deduction on the ground that the mortgage payments were part of a property settlement between Sydnes and his former wife, rather than alimony. See 26 U.S.C. § 215. Sydnes filed a petition in the Tax Court, which held that the mortgage payments were part of a property settlement and were therefore not deductible as alimony under 26 U.S.C. § 215. Sydnes v. Commissioner, 68 T.C. 170, 176-78 (1977). The Eighth Circuit affirmed the Tax Court's holding on this issue. Sydnes v. Commissioner, supra, aff'd in part and rev'd in part, 577 F.2d 60, 63 (8th Cir. 1978).
Sydnes deducted further mortgage payments on his 1973 and 1974 tax returns. After the Commissioner disallowed these deductions, Sydnes filed another petition in the Tax Court, which granted the Commissioner's motion for summary judgment on the ground that Sydnes' second action was barred by the doctrine of collateral estoppel. Sydnes v. Commissioner, 74 T.C. 864 (1979) (mem.). Sydnes did not appeal the Tax Court's decision.
In July, 1979 Sydnes filed a third petition in the Tax Court, contesting the Commissioner's disallowance of his deduction of payments on the same mortgage in tax year 1975. On August 13, 1980 the Tax Court granted summary judgment for the Commissioner, who again asserted that Sydnes' contention was barred by collateral estoppel. On its own motion, the court also awarded the United States $500.00 in damages under 26 U.S.C. § 6673. 2
On appeal Sydnes contends that the Tax Court denied him the opportunity to "clear the record" by showing that certain statements made by the Tax Court in its 1977 decision in Sydnes v. Commissioner, supra, 68 T.C. at 170, were untrue. 3 Addressing this contention, we find that the Tax Court correctly applied the doctrine of collateral estoppel to bar Sydnes' contention that the mortgage payments were deductible as alimony. The doctrine is applicable to situations in which the legal matter raised in a second or subsequent suit is identical in all respects to the issue decided in the first proceeding and the controlling facts and applicable legal principles remain the same. Commissioner v. Sunnen, 333 U.S. 591, 599-600, 68 S.Ct. 715, 720, 92 L.Ed. 898 (1948); Tait v. Western Maryland Railway Co., 289 U.S. 620, 53 S.Ct. 706, 77 L.Ed. 1470 (1933). If the facts adjudicated in an earlier case relating to one tax year are identical to the facts of a subsequent suit dealing with a different tax year, the prior judgment is conclusive on the same legal issues. Commissioner v. Sunnen, supra, 333 U.S. at 601, 68 S.Ct. at 721.
The situation in the instant case falls squarely within these principles. Sydnes had a full opportunity to litigate the proper characterization of the mortgage payments when the issue was presented to the Tax Court and this court after the Commissioner disallowed the alimony deduction on his 1971 tax return. In addition, neither the controlling facts nor the applicable law changed between 1971 and 1975, the year Sydnes made the mortgage payments at issue in this case. Because the taxable character of the payments was determined in the earlier proceeding and there was no change in the dissolution of marriage decree or the applicable law between 1971 and 1975, Sydnes' suit seeking a redetermination of the identical question of the tax statute's application merely on the assertion that the Tax Court opinion in Sydnes v. Commissioner, supra, 68 T.C. at 170, contains "untrue statements" is barred.
Sydnes also asserts that the Tax Court erred in assessing $500.00 damages against him. In concluding that damages were assessable, the Tax Court stated:
After carefully reviewing the record in the two cases previously filed by this...
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