I’ve spent a lot of time and electrons (probably too much) on the Tax Court Bench’s variegated warnings of Section 6673 frivolity-and-delay chops. Uniformity is as far off as ever, even with maximum allowance for judicial discretion in administering their own courtrooms, personal or digital.
Here’s Todd O. Olson, Docket No. 28000-22L, filed 3/20/25. Todd got seven (count ’em, seven) Section 6702(a) frivolous return chops for five (count ’em, five) years, two of the seven returns being for 1040X amendeds that never made it into the administrative record. No summary J for IRS on those, but they get the rest.
Yes, reader with a long memory, Todd was here last June when Judge Travis A. (“Tag”) Greaves warned him about frivolity (Todd is an “all-zeros” return, wages aren’t income type). See my blogpost “Distant Early Warning,” 6/12/24.*
But Judge Cary Douglas Pugh gives Todd yet another bye. IRS is missing those 1040Xs, so back to Appeals on those, and maybe Todd was right to skip the February hearing on IRS’ summary J motion.
“Because remand is necessary here, we will not impose a section 6673 penalty at this time. We cannot foreclose the possibility that petitioner did not appear at our February 3, 2025, hearing because he had nothing that was not frivolous to add to his supplemented Response to Motion for Summary Judgment. We remind petitioner that we may impose the penalty if he persists in making frivolous arguments in any future filings in this case. And we also warn him that he risks default if he does not comply with this or other Orders we enter.” Order, at p. 6.
Taishoff Law 