Annamalai v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue
Opinion
*531 Before us today is an appellate jurisdictional issue of first impression. Under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 13, the statutory 90-day window to appeal a Tax Court decision to our court runs from either: 1) the entry of the Tax Court decision being appealed or 2) if a party moves to vacate or revise the Tax Court's decision, from the entry of the Tax Court's ruling on that motion to vacate or revise the decision. The question before us is whether a party may file successive motions to vacate or revise with the effect of extending the time to appeal into perpetuity. We hold that successive motions to vacate or revise a Tax Court decision, raising substantially the same grounds as the first motion, will not affect the time period in which a party may appeal a Tax Court decision. Where successive post-decision motions are filed in the Tax Court, the statutory 90-day window to appeal the Tax Court decision runs from the Tax Court's ruling on the first motion to vacate or revise filed. The notice of the instant appeal to this court, filed more than 90 days after the Tax Court disposed of the first motion to vacate, is untimely. This appeal is dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction.
I.
The facts relevant to the single issue we take up today are simple. The IRS Commissioner determined that Appellants Annamalai Annamalai and Parvathi Siva Annamalai ("the Taxpayers") were jointly liable for tax deficiencies of a sum certain and mailed a notice of deficiency to each of them. Upset by that determination, the Taxpayers petitioned the Tax Court for a redetermination of their tax liability. After nearly three years of litigation, the Tax Court entered its final decision in the matter on June 23, 2016.
On July 13, 2016, the Taxpayers filed separate motions with the Tax Court to vacate its June 23 decision. On November 18, the Tax Court denied those motions. The Taxpayers' next move is central to this appeal. Instead of filing a notice of appeal of the Tax Court's decision with the Tax Court clerk, the Taxpayers, on December 12, jointly filed a second motion with the Tax Court to vacate the Tax Court's decision. 1 That second motion, assuming without deciding that it was timely, 2 did not raise any substantially new grounds or arguments. After the Tax Court denied that second motion on December 22, the Taxpayers filed a notice of appeal with the Tax Court clerk on March 15, 2017. That is, the Taxpayers appealed to this court 265 days after the Tax *532 Court's initial decision, 117 days after the Tax Court ruled on their first motions to vacate, and 83 days after the Tax Court ruled on their second joint motion to vacate. We decide today whether the Taxpayers' appeal of the Tax Court's decision is timely. 3
II.
"[T]he taking of an appeal within the prescribed time is 'mandatory and jurisdictional.' "
Bowles v. Russell
,
Although the 90-day window is absolute, the point from which it runs is not. "If, under Tax Court rules, a party makes a timely motion to vacate or revise the Tax Court's decision, the time to file a notice of appeal runs from the entry of the order disposing of the motion or from the entry of a new decision, whichever is later." Fed. R. App. P. 13(a)(1)(B). So in other words, the 90-day clock restarts 4 when a timely motion to vacate or revise a Tax Court decision is ruled on. But the text of the rule and its advisory committee notes do not address whether the 90-day clock can be reset more than once when a party files a subsequent motion to vacate, after the Tax Court has already ruled on the first such motion. 5 In this case, the Taxpayers' appeal is timely only if the Tax Court's denial of their second motion to vacate once again restarted the 90-day clock.
The one Fifth Circuit case addressing this issue is of limited use here.
See
*533
Streiffert v. Internal Revenue Serv.
,
We find support for the Tenth Circuit's holding in our approach to successive motions for reconsideration in the civil-rules context. Analyzing Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59, we held, "[W]here an appellant files a second motion to reconsider 'based upon substantially the same grounds as urged in the earlier motion,' the filing of the second motion does not interrupt the running of the time for appeal, and the appeal must be dismissed."
Charles L.M. v. Ne. Indep. Sch. Dist.
,
*534 III.
Thus, we hold that, where a party files successive motions to vacate in the Tax Court which raise substantially the same grounds, only a ruling on the
first
motion to vacate restarts the 90-day time period to file an appeal of the Tax Court's decision under
DISMISSED.
The Taxpayers' second motion was styled as both a motion to vacate the Tax Court's decision and a motion to reconsider the Tax Court's denial of their first motions to vacate. Because Rule 13 applies to any "motion to vacate or revise the Tax Court's decision" and, according to the docket, the Tax Court entered one decision on June 23, 2016, we construe the Taxpayers' second motion as a motion to vacate the Tax Court's June 23 decision.
The Taxpayers filed their second motion within 30 days of the Tax Court's denial of their first motions to vacate. The Commissioner argues that the second motion is untimely because it was filed more than 30 days after the Tax Court's decision. See Tax Ct. R. 162 ("Any motion to vacate or revise a decision, with or without a new or further trial, shall be filed within 30 days after the decision has been entered, unless the Court shall otherwise permit."). But we need not resolve that argument and instead leave experienced Tax Courts to determine whether motions filed in the Tax Court are timely.
In their Notice of Appeal, the Taxpayers say they are appealing the Tax Court's "final judgment" and the denial of their second motion to vacate. But again, Rule 13 allows for the appeal as of right of a Tax Court's "decision," and according to the docket, the Tax Court entered one decision on June 23, 2016.
Previous courts use the term "toll" to describe the effect of filing a motion to vacate on the 90-day clock. But "toll" is defined as "to stop the running of." TOLL, Black's Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014). In other words, to hit the pause button.
See
Artis v. District of Columbia
, --- U.S. ----,
The U.S. Tax Court rules do not directly address the appropriateness of successive motions to vacate. See Tax Ct. R. 162 (" Any motion to vacate or revise a decision, with or without a new or further trial, shall be filed within 30 days after the decision has been entered, unless the Court shall otherwise permit." (emphasis added) ).
The Ninth Circuit has also expressed "doubt that successive motions for post-trial relief in the Tax Court can be tacked together to extend the time for filing a notice of appeal when they assert the same grounds."
Trohimovich v. Commissioner
,
"Were we to hold that appellant's [second] motion for reconsideration ... terminated the running of the time for filing notice of appeal, a party aggrieved by a judgment resting on several grounds could extend the time for appeal virtually indefinitely by filing successive motions for reconsideration challenging each of the grounds seriatim."
Dixie Sand & Gravel Co. v. Tenn. Valley Auth.
,
What gives us pause, however, is whether an exception should be carved out for parties who move to vacate a second time on
substantially different
grounds. Indeed, in the civil context, we allow a second Rule 59 motion to "interrupt[ ] the time allowed for filing an appeal" where it "present[s] at least one completely different ground for relief from the judgment."
Nobby Lobby, Inc. v. City of Dallas
,
"The time periods set by Rule 13(a)(1) and Section 7483 are absolute. Because these periods are set by statute as well as by rule, cases ... describing these time periods as jurisdictional would still appear to be good law." 16A Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3959 (4th ed. 2013).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Annamalai ANNAMALAI; Parvathi Siva Annamalai, Petitioners-Appellants v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent-Appellee
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published