If you are going thus to describe the USDCJ who presided over your (losing) trial, whereat you went down for fraud per Section 7206(1) and Section 7206(2), please allow me to suggest that you (a) don’t do it in writing, (b) don’t send that writing to IRS Appeals as a prelude to your supplemental CDP hearing on the NFTL IRS laid upon you for the Section 6663 fraud chops, (c) don’t attach the writing to a status report you file with Tax Court, and (d) especially don’t do it with Judge James S. (“Big Jim”) Halpern.

Read and heed Harjit Bhambra, Docket No. 1395-16L, filed 2/22/19. Judge Big Jim has obligingly laid out the whole nine yards in a designated hitter.

IRS already won summary J for the court-ordered restitution. The only thing left is the Section 6663 fraud chops. Bham hadn’t a chance to contest these, so he gets a supplemental CDP to try.

But instead of offering evidence when Appeals offered Bham a telephone hearing, he “…responded by letter…, in which he demanded an in-person hearing that he would record and made inflammatory statements; e.g., ‘that the IRS agents are well qualified liars and cannot be trusted for any reason’ and the District Court judge in his criminal trial is a ‘reckless buffoon.’ Order, at p. 2.

Well, Bham got no in-person, but he did get a supplemental NOD saying that Bham had proffered no evidence to rebut Appeals’ determination.

Judge Big Jim, desirous of doing justice, tries to get Bham and IRS on the blower to discern a path to resolution.

“Following receipt of the supplemental determination, we reached out to the parties to discuss how to proceed. We were unsuccessful in our attempts in December 2018 and, following the government shutdown, in February 2019, in arranging a conference call with petitioner. For example, on February 11, 2019, petitioner did not answer at the time he had previously agreed to. In response to our attempts to reschedule the call at 5:00 P.M. on February 13, 2019, petitioner responded: ‘I’m working on February 13, 2019, and vacationing from 2-14-19 to March 8, 2019, please send me in writing whatever the [judge] has for this case.’” Order, at p. 3.

I do not recommend this as a response to a judge who is trying to find some way to help you. I also remind you to be very careful of what you ask for; you might just get it.

Bham certainly does.

“We will take petitioner up on his invitation. We assume that, in asking for us to send whatever we have in writing, petitioner seeks no further hearing and has no argument to make. Considering the supplemental determination, [the SO’s] narrative, and the…letter, we do not think that Appeals erred in sustaining the NFTL and the assessment of civil fraud penalties. [The SO] reports that, during his September 11, 2018, telephone conference with petitioner, petitioner did not address the civil fraud penalties. Generally, we may not consider issues or arguments that a taxpayer does not raise as part of a section 6330 hearing.“ Order, at p. 3.

Fraud chops sustained.