Gary Pansier, et al v. CIR
Filing
Filed Nonprecedential Disposition PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED. We order the Pansiers to show cause within 14 days why this court should not sanction them with a fine, the nonpayment of which may lead to a circuit-wide filing bar under In re City of Chicago, 500 F.3d 582, 585 86 (7th Cir. 2007), and Support Systems International, Inc. v. Mack, 45 F.3d 185, 186 87 (7th Cir. 1995). Frank H. Easterbrook, Circuit Judge; Michael S. Kanne, Circuit Judge and Diane S. Sykes, Circuit Judge. Sent Certified Mail. Receipt Number: 7012 3460 0000 9173 7550. [6695640-1] [6695640] [15-1386]
Case: 15-1386
Document: 27
Filed: 09/25/2015
Pages: 5
NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION
To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1
United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Submitted September 22, 2015*
Decided September 25, 2015
Before
FRANK H. EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge
MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge
DIANE S. SYKES, Circuit Judge
No. 15‐1386
GARY LEE PANSIER and JOAN RENEE
PANSIER,
Petitioners‐Appellants,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL
REVENUE,
Respondent‐Appellee.
Appeal from the United States Tax Court.
No. 3143‐13L
Mary Ann Cohen,
Judge.
O R D E R
Gary and Joan Pansier appeal from the tax court’s decision to uphold the Internal
Revenue Service’s determination sustaining proposed levies to collect unpaid tax
liabilities and rejecting their offer‐in‐compromise. Because the tax court correctly
concluded that the IRS acted within its discretion when it rejected the Pansiers’
settlement offer, we affirm.
* After examining the briefs and records, we have concluded that oral argument
is unnecessary. Thus these appeals are submitted on the briefs and records. See FED. R.
APP. P. 34(a)(2)(C).
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No. 15‐1
1386
Pa
age 2
The Pansiers
T
s have been
n in a protra
acted battle
e with the IR
RS over tax
x liabilities that
date bac
ck two deca
ades. See In re Pansier, 4
451 F. App’
’x 593 (7th Cir. 2011); United States v.
Pansier, 576 F.3d 72
26, 728 (7th Cir. 2009). In 2009 the
e agency be
egan its late
est attempt to
collect o
on those liab
bilities. In 2
2012 the Pan
nsiers subm
mitted an “o
offer‐in‐com
mpromise,”
”
see 26 U.
.S.C. § 7122
2, offering to
o pay $13,3
365.55 to set
ttle their de
ebt. They su
ubmitted w
with
their set
ttlement off
fer a financi
ial statemen
nt listing th
heir income
e and expen
nses, as wel
ll as
eight no
otices from t
the IRS war
rning them
m that the ag
gency inten
nded to levy
y their asset
ts
based on
n debts for tax years 1999 through
h 2006.
The notices differed sub
T
bstantially in the calcu
ulated figur
res. The tw
wo most rece
ent
notices—
—from 2005
5 and 2006—
—calculated
d the amoun
nt due to in
nclude the c
current bala
ance,
penalty, and interest. For exam
mple, the ac
ccount sum
mmary for 2
2006 shows that the
Pansiers
s owed $6,7
764.24:
But the a
amount due in the six other notic
ces exclude
es the balan
nce and pen
nalties and
calculate
es only accr
rued interest. The acco
ount summ
mary for 200
04, for instance, specifi
ies
that the Pansiers ow
we only $79
9.37:
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Pa
age 3
In
n January 2013 the IRS
S’s Office of
f Appeals re
ejected the P
Pansiers’ of
ffer based o
on its
belief th
hat they had
d altered sev
veral of the
e notices to require pay
yment of on
nly the accr
rued
interest. IRS compu
uter records
s, an appea
als officer sa
aid, “confir
rm that the amounts
reflected
d on these n
notices are i
inaccurate.”
” Analysis of the copie
es, the offic
cer continue
ed,
confirme
ed that “the
e actual bal
lance due a
amounts we
ere removed
d and chan
nged to refle
ect
only the
e computer generated accrued int
terest as the
e current ba
alance due.
.” This was
done, th
he officer ad
dded, “by completely e
eliminating
g the ‘Curre
ent Balance
e Due’ and
‘Penalty
y’ figures fro
om each no
otice and replacing the
e ‘Amount D
Due’ with t
the comput
ter
generate
ed ‘Interest’ amount.” The officer
r noted that
t “[t]he font
t used for th
he altered
‘Amoun
nt Due’ figu
ures does no
ot match th
he computer
r font used for the actu
ual ‘Interes
st’
figures” and explai
ined that “s
similar tacti
ics used by
y the taxpay
yer that resu
ulted in a ta
ax
fraud co
onviction w
were used in
n the submi
ission of the
e offer in co
ompromise
docume
entation”—a
an apparen
nt reference to Gary Pa
ansier’s con
nviction for tax fraud,
see Pansi
ier, 576 F.3d
d 726. The o
officer conc
cluded that accepting t
the Pansier
rs’ offer was
s not
in the go
overnment’
’s best inter
rest. See INT
TERNAL REV
VENUE MANUAL § 5.8.7.7.1 (explain
ning
that agency can reje
ect settleme
ent offer as not in best
t interest of
f government).
The Pansiers
T
s petitioned
d the tax court, disputi
ing the age
ency’s decis
sion to (1)
sustain t
the levies to
o their unpaid tax liab
bilities for 1 995 throug
gh 1998 and
d (2) collect
unpaid t
tax liabilitie
es for 1999 t
through 200
06. The Pan
nsiers assert
ted that the
e agency abused
its discre
etion by rej
jecting their
r offer, and
d they denie
ed altering the documents.
The tax cour
T
rt concluded that the a
agency did not act “arb
bitrarily or capricious
sly”
in rejecti
ing the sett
tlement offe
er. It assum
med that the
e tax forms had not bee
en altered (
(the
originals
s had not been introdu
uced into th
he record) b
but determi
ined that th
he settlemen
nt
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officer did not act unreasonably in concluding that the Pansiers had deliberately
misrepresented their total liabilities in their offer. The court pointed to Gary Pansier’s
“history of submitting false documents and the settlement officer’s verification of the
amounts actually due far in excess of the amounts shown on the forms,” as well as the
Pansiers’ pattern in prior disputes with the IRS of being “unwilling to accept any
disagreement with their strongly held convictions that they were right.” The court also
noted that the Pansiers had engaged in “hostile, obstructive, and frivolous conduct at
every stage of the proceedings” and rejected the Pansiers’ suggestion “that the
settlement officer could have persuaded them to change their position or should have
engaged in further attempts to do so.” The court later denied the Pansiers’ motion to
vacate or revise the decision.
On appeal, the Pansiers argue that the tax court erroneously concluded that the
IRS did not abuse its discretion when it refused to negotiate a settlement. In their view,
the settlement officer’s conclusion that they altered the notices in an effort to sway him
to accept the offer is irrational and clearly erroneous.
The tax court correctly concluded that the IRS did not abuse its discretion in
rejecting the settlement offer based on ample evidence that the Pansiers had altered
documents. The amount of the Pansiers’ tax liabilities that is recorded on the notices is
nearly $90,000 less than the amount that they actually owe, as reflected in the IRS’s
records. Moreover, the Pansiers admitted to the tax court that they had altered the forms
they submitted with their offer by inserting the interest amount in the “Amount Due”
boxes on the notices and changing the title of the financial statement. And in light of
Gary Pansier’s previous conviction for filing false IRS forms, it was reasonable for the
agency to scrutinize the documents submitted with the offer. Given the IRS’s reasonable
conclusion that the Pansiers submitted falsified documents, the IRS acted within its
discretion in rejecting the offer as not in the government’s best interest. See INTERNAL
REVENUE MANUAL § 1.2.14.1.15(2) (allowing agency to reject offer that “might in any way
be detrimental to the Government’s interests”); Kindred v. Commʹr of Internal Revenue, 454
F.3d 688, 696 (7th Cir. 2006) (“The decision to entertain, accept or reject an offer in
compromise is squarely within the discretion of the appeals officer and the IRS in
general.”); cf. TREAS. REG. § 301.7122‐1(e)(5)(i) (allowing IRS to reopen case after
acceptance of settlement offer where “[f]alse information or documents are supplied in
conjunction with the offer”).
The Pansiers also contend that the tax court violated the rule announced in SEC
v. Chenery Corp., 332 U.S. 194 (1947), by basing its decision on grounds other than those
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relied upon by the settlement officer—specifically by ruling against them because they
had engaged in ”hostile, obstructive, and frivolous conduct.” To the extent that the tax
court relied upon this ground as a basis for its decision, however, it was an alternative
and independent ground. The principal ground for its decision was the Pansiers’
submission of questionable documents—the same rationale relied on by the agency.
Any error the tax court committed in relying also on the alternative ground is harmless.
See Parker v. Astrue, 597 F.3d 920, 924 (7th Cir. 2010); Sahara Coal Co. v. Office of Workers
Comp. Programs, U.S. Depʹt of Labor, 946 F.2d 554, 558 (7th Cir. 1991).
The Pansiers raise numerous other challenges to the tax court’s rulings and the
IRS’s rejection of their offer. We have considered these arguments and conclude that
none has merit.
The Pansiers are frequent litigants and in the tax court’s view have “rejected or
ignored the holdings of the District Court, the bankruptcy court, the Court of Appeals,
and [the tax court].” This appeal is yet another in a frivolous and protracted attempt to
avoid paying their tax liabilities. We order the Pansiers to show cause within 14 days
why this court should not sanction them with a fine, the nonpayment of which may lead
to a circuit‐wide filing bar under In re City of Chicago, 500 F.3d 582, 585–86 (7th Cir. 2007),
and Support Systems International, Inc. v. Mack, 45 F.3d 185, 186–87 (7th Cir. 1995).
AFFIRMED.
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