Dennis Berkovich v. California Franchise Tax Board

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

IN RE DENNIS BERKOVICH; MARINA No. 20-60046

VOLOSHIN,

Debtors, BAP No. 20-1025

DENNIS BERKOVICH,

Appellant, OPINION

v.

CALIFORNIA FRANCHISE TAX BOARD,

Appellee.

Appeal from the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Faris, Lafferty III, and Spraker, Bankruptcy Judges, Presiding

Argued and Submitted October 4, 2021 Pasadena, California

Filed October 14, 2021 IN RE BERKOVICH

Before: Susan P. Graber and John B. Owens, Circuit Judges, and Charles R. Breyer, * District Judge.

Opinion by Judge Breyer

SUMMARY **

Bankruptcy

The panel affirmed and adopted as its own, with one exception, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel’s opinion affirming a grant of summary judgment to the California Franchise Tax Board and holding that Dennis Berkovich’s tax debt was not discharged in bankruptcy because the debt derived from a “report or notice” “equivalent” to a tax return that he had failed to submit as required by California law.

In the BAP’s opinion, adopted by the panel and attached as an appendix to the panel’s opinion, the BAP held that 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1)(B)…