No. 19-536

Bocilla Island Seaport, Inc., fka Highpoint Tower Technology, Inc. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Lower Court: Eleventh Circuit
Docketed: 2019-10-24
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived
Tags: basis-adjustment deficiency-determination due-process partner-level partner-level-penalty partner-level-proceeding partnership-basis penalty penalty-imposition reasonable-cause statutory-interpretation tax-court tax-court-jurisdiction tax-procedure united-states-v-woods
Key Terms:
DueProcess
Latest Conference: 2019-12-06
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Should partner-level basis be adjusted before penalty imposition?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED This Tax Court partner-level penalty jurisdiction case raises these four interrelated issues: 1) Should “each partner’s outside basis [in his partnership interest]... be adjusted at the partner level before the [basis-specific] penalty can be imposed” under the implicated statutes Justice Scalia reconciled in United States v. Woods, 571 U.S. 31, 42 (2013)? 2) Shoulda partner’s cost basis in Euros (which the partnership proceeding deemed that the partner acquired directly) “be adjusted at the partner level before the [basis] penalty can be imposed”? 3) Does the “plain meaning” of the implicated statutes reverse that sequence (imposition of basis penalty before determination of basis) and require separate additional proceedings, despite the reading of those statutes in Woods, the acknowledged algebraic absurdity, and the overarching legislative purpose of eliminating duplicative proceedings? 4) Where, as here, a separate partner-level Tax Court deficiency proceeding is required to address the impact of partner-level facts on the partner’s basis in the Euros reported solely on the partner’s return, does that jurisdiction permit the partner-level reasonable cause facts that preclude the IRS imposing the partnerlevel, basis-specific penalty? ii RULE 14(b) STATEMENT The

Docket Entries

2019-12-09
Petition DENIED.
2019-11-13
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/6/2019.
2019-11-04
Waiver of right of respondent Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service to respond filed.
2019-10-22
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 25, 2019)

Attorneys

Bocilla Island Seaport, Inc., formerly Highpoint Tower Technology, Inc
David Decoursey AughtryChamberlain, Hrdlicka, et al., Petitioner
Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service
Noel J. FranciscoSolicitor General, Respondent