I’ve commented often enough before now on the seemingly random imposition of Section 6673 chops for frivolity. Now I’m coming to the point of invoking the activist judges on the United States Supreme Court bench, who nowise shy from a bench-emptying intervention.

Louis-Umberto Giannini & Dawn-Michelle Frey, Docket No. 16803-25, filed 5/6/26, have been around the cliché a couple times (hi, Judge Holmes). Ch J Patrick J. (“Scholar P{at”) Urda catalogues their prior Tax Court frivoling. A brief docket search shows Lou-U and Dawn got a $1K chop on each of their prior forays.

For more, see my blogposts “Scholar Pat on Frivolites,” 6/23/22, and “A Section 6673 Template,” 7/24/23.

Despite their track record of stale Title B employment tax based arguments, Ch J Scholar Pat devotes five (count ’em, five) pages of his order to a lengthy exposition of the bases of Tax Court jurisdiction, of which Lou-U and Dawn have none.

So Ch J Scholar Pat hits Lou-U and Dawn with a third $1K Section 6673 chop, which is all IRS requested. Obviously Ch J Scholar Pat cannot give more, since that would ambush petitioners.

Why IRS deems such a waste of scarce administrative and judicial resources merits only a $1K chop, which has twice failed to deter Lou-U and Dawn, eludes me. I eagerly await the twice-tagged litigant who challenges a $5K or better chop recommendation from IRS as arbitrary and capricious, when Lou-U and Dawn only got $1K. Sic ’em, Supremes!

Terrell Joseph, T. C. Memo. 2026-38, filed 5/5/26, filed for CDP and CAP, and also a couple OICs (hi, Judge Holmes).  Take a look at Judge Rose E. (“Cracklin'”) Jenkins’ summary of the series of errors on both sides (and thank you, Judge, for summarizing; I could never unscrambled this frittata on my own).

“Petitioner certainly did not facilitate the consideration of his case by Appeals by (1) being imprecise about the basis for his dispute of his underlying liabilities on his Form 12153, (2) making off-base complaints about the IRS’s collection actions leading up to the CDP hearing requests, (3) submitting multiple nonprocessable OICs, and (4) ultimately submitting an OIC with an amount untethered from his ability to pay. However, he did (1) suggest to the Second AO that he had not timely received the SNOD that purportedly provided him a prior opportunity to dispute his underlying liabilities for the 2014 through 2016 tax years, (2) provide a full complement of supplemental information, including relevant documentation requested by the Second AO, and (3) consistently maintain understandable disputes of his underlying liabilities and the accounting for his real property in the RCP computation. And although some of petitioner’s disputes were groundless, the administrative record suggests that the Second AO may have disregarded multiple provisions of the IRM and thereby failed to properly (1) determine whether petitioner was entitled to dispute his underlying liabilities, (2) verify that the requirements of any applicable law or administrative procedure were met with respect to the assessments, (3) determine petitioner’s RCP, and (4) evaluate petitioner’s request for an IA. Accordingly, this Court cannot conclude that Appeals did not abuse its discretion. Therefore, this Court will remand the case to Appeals for a supplemental administrative hearing in accordance with this Opinion and for the issuance of a supplemental notice.” T. C. Memo. 2026-38. at p. 26.

Looks like Terrell got his trusty attorney involved to clean up this mess. Nice work sorting this out.

Though I haven’t been in one in ten years and more, I’m sure every casino on land and sea still has a blackjack table and a couple rows slots (hi, Judge Holmes). And somewhere, every working day, Tax Court will have a syndicated conservation easement case and a microcaptive insurance case. So it is today.

A coupled entry, Kimberly Road Fulton 25, LLC, Kimberly Road Manager, LLC, Tax Matters Partner, and South Fulton Parkway 58, LLC, South Fulton 58 Manager, LC, Tax Matters Partner, T. C. Memo. 2026-36, filed 5/4/26, have Judge Mark V. (“Vittorio. Emanele”) Holmes reaching for his “IRS’ Dubious Arguments” checklist, as IRS has to win on an actual valuation trial with expert witnesses.

Forget business purpose, Congress wanted conservation. Donative intent doesn’t matter, as the only quid pro quo was tax breaks, and the 501(c)(3) that got the easement hadn’t any tax breaks to give. Unqualified appraisal? True, this was petitioners’ appraiser’s first rodeo, but he had credentials, and talking to his clients doesn’t mean collusion. And the 8283 checked the boxes. That one expert didn’t sign either the expert’s report or the 8283 doesn’t matter, as neither side called her as a witness, so whatever she did wasn’t at issue. And what petitioners gave was scenic enough, public enough, preservationist enough, and endangered or threatened species protective enough to make the Section 170 cut. That the Baseline Documentation Report was, in IRS’ expert’s opinion, “the worst BDR he had ever seen,” it did include, as the regulation suggests, a boundary survey, a map, photos of the property, its title and development histories, vantage points in which to view the property, descriptions of the hardwood forest, and a certification of accuracy, T. C. Memo. 2026-36, at p. 23, so it slides in under the tag. IRS’ buzzer-beater attempt to claim the property was inventory, because a promoter was a professional flipper, fails because new issue requiring fresh proof and the trial had already happened when IRS raises this. And the non-disclosure of a listed transaction chop enhancement went south with Green Valley.

Of course, the telephone-number appraisal gets shredded.

For the backstory on Curtis K. Kadau and Lori A. Kadau, Deceased, Curtis K. Kadau, Personal Representative, T. C. Memo. 2026-37, filed 5/4/26, see my blogpost “Microcaptivity  Enhanced,” 7/31/25. Now Judge Christian N. (“Speedy”) Weiler must deal with the 40% substantial overstatement chop and the Section 7701(o) codification (obfuscation) of economic substance.

To begin with, economic substance is relevant and this deal had none. It was the usual cash stash roundy-round. Unlike Kimberly and Fulton, supra, as my third well-brand-Gibson journalist colleagues would say, here the understatement is for nondisclosure, not listed transaction, so Green Valley plays no part.

“We have said that adequate disclosure can be made by a taxpayer providing sufficient information on the return to enable the Commissioner to identify the potential controversy involved. However, the ‘mere declaration of a deduction does not entitle taxpayer to a reduced penalty.’ 

“Considering the circumstances before us, we determine that petitioners failed to adequately disclose relevant facts or provide sufficient information on their individual returns, and likewise on [S Corp]’s corporate returns, to enable respondent to identify the fact that premiums paid and deducted were part of a microcaptive arrangement.” T. C. Memo. 2026-37, at p. 10. (Citations omitted but get them.)