United States v. Joel Boyce, 683 F. App'x 654

Joel L. and Delynne E. Boyce (pro se) appealed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the United States to reduce federal income tax assessments for tax years 1998–2008 to judgment and to foreclose the federal tax lien on their property.
The government relied on certified assessment records (Form 4340) showing unpaid taxes for those years.
The Boyces argued against the sufficiency of the notices/assessments and raised defenses including alleged lack of government authority, judicial bias, and claims that transfers of property were to nominees or were fraudulent conveyances.
The district court entered summary judgment for the United States, decreed sale of the Boyces’ property under 26 U.S.C. § 7403, and denied the Boyces’ request for judicial notice.
The Boyces appealed; the Ninth Circuit reviewed subject-matter jurisdiction and summary judgment de novo and affirmed the district court.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Subject-matter jurisdiction to enforce internal revenue laws	Boyces claimed lack of authority/jurisdiction	United States: district courts have jurisdiction under 26 U.S.C. § 7402(a)	Jurisdiction exists; court had authority to proceed
Validity/sufficiency of tax assessments	Boyces argued notices/assessments were insufficient	Government produced Form 4340; assessments presumed correct absent competent contrary evidence	Form 4340 entitled to presumption of correctness; Boyces failed to raise genuine dispute; summary judgment for government
Foreclosure and sale of property; nominee/ fraudulent-transfer defenses	Boyces contended property was held by nominees or transferred fraudulently	Government relied on lack of evidence of nominee control or actual intent to defraud creditors	No genuine dispute on nominee/fraudulent conveyance; foreclosure and sale ordered under § 7403 and state fraudulent-transfer law
Other procedural/contention claims (judicial bias; request for judicial notice)	Boyces asserted judicial bias and sought judicial notice of matters	Government denied; court found claims unsupported and noted appellate briefing requirements	Claims rejected as without merit; request for judicial notice denied

Hughes v. United States, 953 F.2d 531 (9th Cir. 1992) (review of assessments and summary judgment standards; Form 4340 as proof of assessment)
Palmer v. IRS, 116 F.3d 1309 (9th Cir. 1997) (IRS assessments presumed correct absent competent contrary evidence)
Fourth Inv. LP v. United States, 720 F.3d 1058 (9th Cir. 2013) (nominee-relationship found where taxpayer retained substantial control over property)
Padgett v. Wright, 587 F.3d 983 (9th Cir. 2009) (issues not raised distinctly in opening brief are generally not considered on appeal)