Samuel Kornhauser v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
SAMUEL KORNHAUSER,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL
REVENUE,
Respondent - Appellee.
No. 13-73850
Tax Ct. No. 2120-12
MEMORANDUM*
Appeal from a Decision of the
United States Tax Court
Submitted January 20, 2016**
Before: CANBY, TASHIMA, and NGUYEN, Circuit Judges.
Samuel Kornhauser, an attorney, appeals pro se from the Tax Court’s
decision, after a bench trial, upholding the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue’s
determination of income tax deficiencies and penalties for tax year 2008. We have
jurisdiction under 26 U.S.C. § 7482(a)(1). We review de novo the Tax Court’s
FILED
JAN 28 2016
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).

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legal conclusions, for clear error its factual findings, and for an abuse of discretion
its evidentiary rulings. Sparkman v. Comm’r, 509 F.3d 1149, 1155-56 (9th Cir.
2007). We affirm.
The Tax Court did not clearly err in determining that Kornhauser failed to
produce sufficient evidence to demonstrate his entitlement to deductions and loss
carry back. See id., 509 F.3d at 1159 (taxpayer bears burden of showing right to
claimed deduction); see also 26 U.S.C. § 172 (net operating loss deductions);
Palmer v. IRS, 116 F.3d 1309, 1312 (9th Cir. 1997) (“The Commissioner’s
deficiency determinations and assessments for unpaid taxes are normally entitled to
a presumption of correctness so long as they are supported by a minimal factual
foundation.”). Accordingly, the Tax Court properly sustained the determination of
income tax deficiencies for the tax year 2008.
The Tax Court properly upheld the Commissioner’s additions to taxes for
Kornhauser’s failure to file a required tax return in a timely manner and for his
failure to pay estimated taxes for 2008. See 26 U.S.C. § 6651(a)(1) (providing for
additions to tax where taxpayer fails, without reasonable cause, to timely file a tax
return); id. § 6654(a) (imposing mandatory additions to tax for failing to pay
estimated tax payments).
The Tax Court did not abuse its discretion in declining to admit into
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evidence documents that Kornhauser provided to the Commissioner on the day of
trial, in violation of the Tax Court’s standing pretrial order. See United States v.
First Nat’l Bank of Circle, 652 F.2d 882, 886 n.5 (9th Cir. 1981) (“Exclusion by
the trial court of contentions or evidence not listed in or disclosed in accordance
with the pretrial order has been repeatedly upheld.”).
AFFIRMED.
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