United States v. Dennis Poseley

MEMORANDUM

Patricia Ann Ensign appeals pro se from the district court’s orders dismissing for lack of jurisdiction her motion for declaratory and injunctive relief from the Internal Revenue Services’s (“IRS”) assessment of administrative penalties for selling tax evasion schemes. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review de novo, Hughes v. United States, 953 F.2d 531, 535 (9th Cir.1992), and we affirm.

Dismissal on jurisdictional grounds of Ensign’s motion for relief from the assessment of penalties under 26 U.S.C. § 6700 was proper because the government is immune from being sued regarding such penalties except under limited circumstances that Ensign failed to establish. See 26 U.S.C. § 6703 (c) (to contest § 6700 penalty, claimant must pay 15% of penalty and file a refund claim with IRS); 26 U.S.C. § 7422 (a) (prohibiting suit to recover penalties until refund claim is filed); see also Korobkin v. United States, 988 F.2d 975, 976 (1993) (per curiam) (court lacks jurisdiction over challenge to § 6700 penalty if party fails to comply with statutory administrative claim requirement); Dunn & Black, P.S. v. United States, 492 F.3d 1084, 1087-88 (9th Cir.2007) (waivers…