Ninth Circuit Upholds Late-Filing Penalty Against Partnership

JONES, BELL, ABBOTT, FLEMING & FITZGERALD L.L.P.,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Defendant-Appellee.

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

D.C. No. 2:17-cv-07752-PA-RAO

MEMORANDUM^*

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Percy Anderson, District Judge, Presiding

Submitted October 15, 2019^**

Before: FARRIS, LEAVY, and RAWLINSON, Circuit Judges.

Jones, Bell, Abbot, Fleming & Fitzgerald L.L.P. appeals from the district court's judgment dismissing its 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(1) action arising from the Internal Revenue Service's (“IRS”) assessment of a tax penalty for the late filing of appellant's 2015 partnership return. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo a district court's judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(c). Price v. U.S. Navy, 39 F.3d 1011, 1021 (9th Cir. 1994). We affirm.

The district court properly determined that appellant's evidence was insufficient to show that it timely mailed an application for a tax return filing extension. See Lewis v. United States, 144 F.3d 1220, 1222-23 (9th Cir. 1998) (a taxpayer must provide “credible evidence” of timely mailing of a document in order to a raise a rebuttable presumption that the document was timely received by the addressee). The district court therefore properly concluded that the IRS properly assessed a penalty against appellant for not timely filing its 2015 partnership return.

AFFIRMED.