Robert F. Christensen and Eileen F. Christensen v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service

The Christensens claimed various deductions on their 1977 and 1978 returns but the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (“Commissioner”) disallowed those deductions. The Tax Court sustained the Commissioner’s disallowance. It also refused to address new requests raised by the Christensens for income averaging and deductions of additional expenses, concluding that they were not properly raised. Liberally construed, a pro se motion filed by the Christensens, referring to those claims, constituted a motion for leave to amend. We remand for consideration of that motion, but affirm the Tax Court on all other grounds.

I. FACTS

After a series of audits and unsuccessful negotiations, the Commissioner issued notices of deficiencies for 1977 and 1978. During the negotiation phase, the Christen-sens discussed utilization of income averaging with IRS employees and provided documentation of the base years necessary for the computation.

The Christensens petitioned the Tax Court for a redetermination of the deficiencies in November 1980, alleging the denial of deductions for rental losses in 1977 and 1978 was erroneous. Although the Christensens did not ask to amend their pleading, they did file…