Mathia v. Commissioner, 669 F.3d 1080

Mathia and Doyle Mathia were married; Doyle was a limited partner in Greenwich Associates, a TEFRA subject New York partnership, with losses passed through to their joint returns for 1982-84.
IRS investigated the Swanton TEFRA partnerships, included Greenwich, and disallowed the partnership losses in 1987-1990, issuing an FPAA in 1990.
In 1991 an agreement in principle was reached with the IRS and Zapruder & Odell regarding 19 Swanton partnerships, including Greenwich, to resolve the partnership-level items through a future final settlement and a ruling binding all partners.
A Greenwich Stipulation memorialized Greenwich’s partnership-item adjustments for 1982-84; it was signed by Greenwich’s tax matters partner in 1996 but not finalized by the IRS, and later reissued unsigned in 2001 before both parties signed.
The Tax Court accepted the Greenwich Stipulation in 2001 and its decision became final in April 2002; IRS issued computational adjustments in 2002-2003 and then assessments against Mathia in January 2003.
Mathia argued the assessments were untimely and that the burden of proof should shift to the Commissioner; the Tax Court and the Tenth Circuit held assessments timely and burden appropriate to Mathia.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Timeliness of the assessments under TEFRA	Mathia alleges assessments untimely as § 6231(b)(1)(C) settlements converted items to nonpartnership items.	Commissioner argues Greenwich agreements were partnership-level, not § 6231(b)(1)(C) settlements, so § 6229(d) governs and assessments timely.	Assessments timely; Greenwich items remained partnership items.
Burden of proof in the Tax Court proceeding	Mathia sought shifting the burden to the Commissioner under § 7491(a).	Tax Court properly placed the burden on Mathia; § 7491(a) does not apply because examination occurred before 1998.	Tax Court correctly assigned the burden to Mathia; § 7491(a) inapplicable.

Crnkovich v. United States, 202 F.3d 1325 (Fed. Cir. 2000) (analyzes § 6231(b)(1)(C) agreements to convert items to nonpartnership items)
AD Global Fund, LLC ex rel. N. Hills Holding, Inc. v. United States, 481 F.3d 1351 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (TEFRA partnership items generally determined at partnership level)