You faithful, indefatigable readers of my blog, seekers for enlightenment in the murk of the IRC, the gloom of the regulations and the stirred-up silt of Tax Court opinions (thanks, Judge Holmes, for that last metaphor), rejoice greatly!

I have an answer to the unanswered question. See my blogposts “Angst”, 11/4/13, and “We May Never Know”, 11/26/13, for the backstory.

For those impatient to get to the answer, this involved the immigration status of Lee Ang, Docket No. 13309-12L. IRS claimed, at pp. 41-42 of its motion for summary judgment enforcing the tax lien, that Lee is illegally in the Land of the Free.

Judge Laro says, so what? And sends all hands off the brief the question.

So I contacted a source, whose identity I can’t and won’t disclose (now that our NY Court of Appeals has reaffirmed our State’s  Shield Law in Holmes v. Winter, 12/10/13).

According to my source,  Judge Laro was concerned that,  if Lee is a fugitive, a jeopardy assessment and immediate collection might be in order. The stay imposed on IRS collection activities while a Tax Court case is pending (Section 6213(a)) cannot keep IRS from grabbing Lee’s assets before he flees to  partibus incognita, if a substantial flight risk exists. See Section 6851(a).

But if Lee isn’t a present fugitive or a likely coop-flyer, due process requires that he have a chance to contest the lien, before IRS grabs his property.

My informant tells me IRS isn’t pushing the immigration status issue. A clerk in Courtroom 206 at 26 Fed Plz tells me that the case is still on for trial on 12/12/13 at 10 a.m.

You read it here first.