Scott M. Balotin & Ellen M. Balotin, Docket No. 3848-26P, filed 8/6/26, show great promise for more blogfodder even than their prior appearances in this my blog; in proof whereof, see my blogposts “Slamming the Backdoor,” 8/17/23, and “The Eighty Percent,” 2/4/26.

This time they’re pro se, claiming IRS is playing the Matty Dean Vigon cat-and-mouse gambit, denounced by that Obliging Jurist Judge David Gustafson in my blogpost “Crafty – Akin to the Weasel,” 7/24/17, with Section 7345 seriously delinquent tax debt (SDTD) certs to DoS and then decertifying. No SOL on SDTD certs, right?

Yes. Except.

Scott filed a CDP and then petitioned (late, but maybe equitably tolled) a negative NOD.

Judge Goeke: “IRS’s three certifications do not indicate that the IRS will recertify petitioners in violation of section 7345. When a certification is found to be erroneous, the IRS shall reverse the certification and notify the State Department ‘as soon as practicable.’  §7345(c)(2)(D). That occurred in this case. The IRS timely issued the first reversal after petitioners requested the CDP hearing. The IRS recertified Mr. Balotin after the 30-day period for filing a petition for review of the Notice of Determination expired. Then, it reversed the certification less than one month after petitioners’ [sic] filed the untimely petition in the CDP case. The IRS complied with its obligations under section 7345.” Order, at p. 3.

Yes, Ruesch says reversing a SDTD cert to moot a petition and then recertifying is a voluntary cessation no-no, just like successive imposition of Section 6702 chops followed by withdrawal, but only if there is a reasonable expectation that IRS will recertify the taxpayer, and interim relief or events have completely eradicated the effects of the certification.  Scott, unlike Dean Matty Vigon, precipitated the cert withdrawals with his CDP request and subsequent petition. IRS followed the statute. And Scott can petition successive SDTD certs; Dean Matty Vigon was barred by the Section 6330(b)(2) one-CDP-per-year constraint from petitioning successive NFTLs and NITLs.