Robin & Diane Miller, Husband and Wife v. United States

Robin and Diane Miller (“Taxpayers”) seek a refund of federal income taxes withheld from their wages. They filed an action in district court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1346 (a)(1). The district court dismissed the action as untimely. We have jurisdiction over the final judgment pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm the district court.

FACTS

Taxpayers failed to prepare a timely income tax return for tax year 1986. In either June 1989 or February 1990, the Internal Revenue Service prepared a substitute return for that year pursuant to 26 U.S.C. (I.R.C.) § 6020(b). The IRS mailed a notice of deficiency to Taxpayers on August 23, 1989. Taxpayers did not prepare a return for 1986 until April, 1990. It was mailed on April 16, 1990 and received at the Internal Revenue Service Center on April 18. That filing was deficient because it lacked a necessary schedule (pertaining to partnership losses) and because a photocopy, with only a photocopied signature, was mailed. In February 1991, a corrected return was filed.

Both filings by Taxpayers asserted a claim for a refund. The IRS issued a notice of disallowance of claim regarding the April 1990 return on May 23, 1991. Taxpayers filed suit…