Judge Elizabeth A. (“Tex”) Copeland has a family matter in James Mellon, T. C. Memo. 2023-108, filed 8/17/23; Mr Mellon is married to Vivian Ruesch, whose Tax Court journeys I’ve blogged hitherto.

And again The Great Chieftain of The Jersey Boys is swinging for the fences.

Mr Mellon claims he lives in Monaco and renounced his US citizenship forty-five (count ’em, forty-five) years ago. Howbeit, IRS gave Mr Mellon a NFTL (mailed to wrong address), and certified Mr Mellon seriously delinquent. When Mr Mellon petitioned, IRS withdrew the old NFTL, gave him a new one at no extra charge, and withdrew the delinquency certification. Mr Mellon of course filed Letter 12153 on the new NFTL. Now Mr Mellon wants to try the whole shootin’ match in Tax Court.

I’ve expressed before my admiration for the never-say-die approach of The Great Chieftain. Smitten to earth, he pulls a Maya Angelou every time. But mootness wins out. All that Section 7345(e)(2) allows pore l’il ol’ Tax Court to do is order IRS to tell State it withdraws the certification. That is all the relief it can give. In this case IRS did that, so game over.

To consider Mr Mellon’s liabilities, if any, he has the CDP he requested (no SNOD here, so no prior opportunity to contest), and judicial review of a negative NOD. Section 7345, unlike Sections 6320 and 6330, is the ultimately narrow-spectrum remedy. No certification, no case.

The Vigon maneuver, where IRS withdrew a bunch 6702 frivolity chops that Dean Matty Vigon was contesting, but could reassert same at any time, as no SOL on Section 6702s, doesn’t apply here. Neither does the one-CDP-per-tax-year limit apply.

Section 7345 does not afford one a backdoor CDP.