Conrad Gorospe Shirley Gorospe v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

446 F.3d 1014 Conrad GOROSPE; Shirley Gorospe, Petitioners-Appellants, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent-Appellee. No. 04-73277. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted April 5, 2006. Filed May 3, 2006. A. Lavar Taylor, Santa Ana, CA, for the appellants. Bridget M. Rowan, Anthony T. Sheehan, Johnathan S. Cohen, Eileen J. O'Connor, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for the appellee. Appeal from a Decision of the United States Tax Court. Tax Ct. No. 13116-02L. Before JEROME FARRIS, FERDINAND F. FERNANDEZ, and SIDNEY R. THOMAS, Circuit Judges. THOMAS, Circuit Judge. 1 The appeal presents the question of whether the United States Tax Court has plenary jurisdiction to hear all appeals from collection due process ("CDP") proceedings before the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"). We reaffirm the principle that the Tax Court's jurisdiction over appeals from CDP determinations is limited to issues over which the Tax Court would have had jurisdiction to consider the underlying tax liability. 2 * When a taxpayer fails to pay his federal taxes, after the IRS demands payment, the amount due becomes a "lien in favor of the United…