Bryon Nevius v. CIR, No. 16-3255 (8th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseCourt Description: Per Curiam - Before Benton, Bowman and Shepherd, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Federal Tax. The Tax Court properly dismissed Nevius's boilerplate tax-protestor arguments regarding his challenge to a notice of deficiency; the Commissioner's motion for an award of sanctions for a frivolous appeal is granted, and the court awards the Commissioner $5,000.
Download PDF
United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 16-3255 ___________________________ Bryon B. Nevius lllllllllllllllllllllAppellant v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service lllllllllllllllllllllAppellee ____________ Appeal from The United States Tax Court ____________ Submitted: July 6, 2017 Filed: July 27, 2017 [Unpublished] ____________ Before BENTON, BOWMAN, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM. Bryon Nevius appeals a decision of the tax court,1 which dismissed his petition challenging a notice of deficiency issued by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and upheld the assessments set forth in the notice of deficiency. The Commissioner 1 The Honorable Michael B. Thornton, Chief Judge, United States Tax Court. urges affirmance, and has moved for sanctions on appeal. Having jurisdiction under 26 U.S.C. § 7482(a)(1), this court affirms. After careful review, this court concludes that the tax court properly dismissed the petition, as courts have repeatedly rejected Nevius’s boilerplate tax-protester arguments. See Campbell v. Comm’r, 164 F.3d 1140, 1142 (8th Cir. 1999) (standards of review for tax court decisions); Shenker v. Comm’r, 804 F.2d 109, 114 n. 6 (8th Cir. 1986) (courts have uniformly upheld the constitutionality of the tax court); United States v. Jagim, 978 F.2d 1032, 1036 (8th Cir. 1992) (rejecting defendant’s argument--that he was citizen of Republic of Idaho, and therefore not subject to federal income tax--as “completely without merit, [and] patently frivolous”). Finally, this court may award “just damages” and single or double costs if it determines that an appeal is frivolous. 28 U.S.C. § 1912; Fed. R. App. P. 38. In this case, sanctions are appropriate. See United States v. Gerads, 999 F.2d 1255, 1256-57 (8th Cir. 1993) (per curiam) (rejecting the argument that “Free Citizens of the Republic of Minnesota” were not subject to taxation; granting government’s motion for sanctions for frivolous appeal). The judgment is affirmed, and this court grants the Commissioner’s motion for sanctions in the amount of $5,000. ______________________________ -2-
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
