Edward Starling v. Commissioner of IRS

[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 12-15054
Non-Argument Calendar
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Agency No. 5081-12 L
EDWARD STARLING,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
COMMISSIONER OF IRS,
Respondent-Appellee.
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Petition for Review of a Decision of the
United States Tax Court
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(June 25, 2013)
Before WILSON, ANDERSON, and EDMONDSON, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM:
Edward Starling, proceeding pro se, appeals the tax court’s dismissal of his
petition for lack of jurisdiction. In his petition, Starling sought redetermination of
deficiencies for tax years 1980 through 1997 on behalf of himself and on behalf of
1,100 of his former tax clients. No reversible error has been shown; we affirm.*
We review subject matter jurisdiction de novo. Peebles v. Merrill Lynch,
Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 431 F.3d 1320, 1324 (11th Cir. 2005). And we
review de novo the tax court’s conclusions of law and review its findings of fact
for clear error. Estate of Wallace v. Comm’r, 965 F.2d 1038, 1044 (11th Cir.
1992).
“The Tax Court is a court of limited jurisdiction and lacks general equitable
powers.” Comm’r v. McCoy, 108 S.Ct. 217, 219 (1987). It has authority to
redetermine tax deficiencies, 26 U.S.C. § 6214, and to review the determinations of
Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) appeals officers, relating to unpaid taxes or
proposed levies or liens, 26 U.S.C. §§ 6320(c), 6330(d). To invoke the tax court’s
authority in either case, however, the IRS must issue the taxpayer a statutory
* Starling challenges the tax court’s denial of his “Motion for Appearance and Representation,”
in which he sought to appear on behalf of his former tax clients. Because nothing evidences that
Starling, a non-lawyer, satisfied the requirements for admission to practice before the tax court,
or that he was admitted to practice before the tax court, the tax court committed no error in
denying Starling’s motion. See I.R.C. Rule 200 (setting forth the admission requirements for
non-lawyers).
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notice; and the taxpayer must timely petition to the tax court. 26 U.S.C. §§ 6212,
6213(a); 26 U.S.C. §§ 6320(a), 6330(a). These statutory notices -- sometimes
characterized as the taxpayer’s “ticket” to the tax court -- are necessary
prerequisites to the tax court’s jurisdiction. See Shockley v. Comm’r, 686 F.3d
1228, 1238 n.9 (11th Cir. 2012) (“The notice [of deficiency under § 6212] is . . .
the taxpayer’s jurisdictional ticket to the Tax Court.”); Offiler v. Comm’r, 114 T.C.
492, 498 (2000) (“The notice of determination provided for in section 6330 is,
from a jurisdictional perspective, the equivalent of a notice of deficiency.”).
The tax court did not clearly err when it found that no prerequisite statutory
notice had been issued in this case. Although the IRS issued three notices of
deficiency to Starling in the 1980s, the proceedings tied to those notices have long-
since been resolved; and no new deficiency notices have been issued. And nothing
evidences that the IRS issued notices of determination to Starling for the pertinent
tax years. In the absence of a statutory notice and a timely petition, the tax court
lacked jurisdiction over Starling’s petition.
AFFIRMED.
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