Messina v. Commissioner, IRS

Filing 920070716

Opinion

ON MOTION FOR CLARIFICATION UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 06-1940

DEBORAH A. MESSINA, Petitioner - Appellant, versus COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States Tax Court.

(Tax Ct. No. 04-10926)

Submitted:

April 4, 2007

Decided:

July 16, 2007

Before WILLIAMS, Chief Judge, and MOTZ and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed in part; vacated and remanded in part by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Deborah A. Messina, Appellant Pro Se. Eileen J. O'Connor, Assistant Attorney General, Karen Grace Gregory, Arthur T. Catterall, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C.; Donald L. Korb, INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM: Deborah A. Messina appeals the tax court's order

upholding the Commissioner's determination of a deficiency in Messina's 1994 income taxes on and assessing that, penalties. to The

Commissioner

concedes

appeal

subject

certain

limitations, Messina is entitled to a deduction for the $84,500 contingency fee paid to the attorney to collect this income amount. See 26 U.S.C. § 212(1) (2000). Thus, while we affirm the tax

court's determination that the entire settlement payment was gross income to Messina in the 1994 tax year, we vacate the tax court's order and remand this case to the tax court with instructions for that court to recompute Messina's tax deficiency and penalties for 1994, after affording her a deduction for the contingency fee amount. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED IN PART; VACATED AND REMANDED IN PART

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