Well, maybe not. Tax Court can dismiss a petition brought for declaratory judgment (DJ), says Ch J Michael B. (“Iron Mike”) Thornton, if the parties agree there is no longer a controversy between them.

And although I thought that if the parties agree, there should be a declaration as to what they agree, Ch J Iron Mike lets IRS and Leone Pizzini & Sons, Inc. Profit Sharing Plan, Docket No. 2144-14R, filed 3/4/15, off the hook.

Remember Leone and offspring? I’m not surprised, I barely remembered them my own self and only because I mentioned them just in passing. See my blogpost “All Those Old, Familiar Faces – Redivivus”, 4/8/14, wherein I said “Now I don’t know Leone Pizzini, and to my knowledge I never met his sons, either jointly or severally.”

But their counsel Jeff A. Schnepper, Esq., was a name from the past.

Now Jeff and IRS have settled the Sec. 501(a) qualification of his client, the Leone profiteers.

“The parties agree that there is now no actual controversy regarding the qualification of petitioner as an exempt trust under I.R.C. section 501(a), that neither party will be prejudiced by dismissing this case, and that we may exercise our discretion and dismiss this case pursuant to Wagner v. Commissioner, 118 T.C. 330 (2002).” Order, at p. 1.

OK, Wagner is the catch-all citation for dropping petitions from NODs. You remember, of course, that petitions from SNODs don’t go away (other than from want of jurisdiction) without decision in favor of IRS sustaining the deficiency.

But DJs are supposed to declare the parties’ rights, if any. So if the parties agree, why not a motion to enter decision? Then let the decision document state what rights the parties have, if any. After all, parties routinely submit decision documents to Tax Court when they agree.

It’s easy to second-guess. Everybody is as wise as a tree full of owls in someone else’s case.

But rather than just a handshake and a dismissal, if I were the Leone profiteers I’d want a Tax Court decision memorializing the handshake.

To paraphrase a former President, “trust, but memorialize”.