Keller

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

MICHAEL W. KELLER, 

Petitioner-Appellant, No. 06-75441 v.  Tax Ct. 9662-

COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL

REVENUE, OPINION

Respondent-Appellee.  Appeal from a Decision of the United States Tax Court Harry A. Haines Presiding

Argued and Submitted February 3, 2009—Seattle, Washington

Filed February 26, 2009

Before: Betty B. Fletcher, Pamela Ann Rymer and Raymond C. Fisher, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Rymer COUNSEL

Terri A. Merriam, Merriam & Associates, P.C., Seattle, Washington, for the petitioner-appellant.

Anthony T. Sheehan, United States Department of Justice, Tax Division, Washington, D.C., for the respondent-appellee.

OPINION

RYMER, Circuit Judge:

Michael W. Keller appeals the tax court’s order upholding the Commissioner of Internal Revenue’s imposition of accuracy-related penalties for his tax underpayment for years 1994 and 1995. Keller now concedes that a 20 percent penalty for negligence is appropriate under 26 U.S.C. § 6662(b)(1)1 but contests the enhancement to a 40 percent penalty for…