Shotgun Delivery, Inc. v. United States

269 F.3d 969 (9th Cir. 2001) SHOTGUN DELIVERY, INC., PLAINTIFF-COUNTER-DEFENDANT-APPELLANT, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, DEFENDANT-COUNTER-CLAIMANT-APPELLEE. UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT No. 00-15495 Argued and Submitted July 12, 2001 Filed October 16, 2001 Dennis L. Perez and Michel R. Stein, Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher & Perez, Beverly Hills, California, for the plaintiff-appellant. Randolph L. Hutter, United States Department of Justice, Tax Division, Washington, D.C., for defendant-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California; Samuel Conti, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-98-04835-SC. Before: Sneed, Wardlaw and Berzon, Circuit Judges. BERZON, Circuit Judge: 1 Shotgun Delivery, Inc. ("Shotgun") appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the United States. The district court upheld the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS') assessment of more than $450,000 in delinquent employment taxes, plus interest and penalties, based on the determination that Shotgun should have paid such taxes on compensation paid to its delivery employees. Instead, Shotgun treated the amounts in…