On February 16, 2021, the Tax Court issued a Memorandum Opinion in the case of Kramer v. Commissioner (T.C. Memo. 2021-16). The primary issues presented in Kramer v. Commissioner were whether the petitioners were in default and whether the IRS carried its various burdens of production and proof with respect to the deficiencies asserted. Background to Kramer v. Commissioner The petitioners are not what you would call “cooperative” or “responsible” taxpayers. Although they brought petition seeking a redetermination of adjustments into notices of deficiency (determining a deficiency, a failure to file penalty, and accuracy-related penalty, and fraud penalties), they neither cooperated in preparing the cases for trial nor did they appear for trial. The Tax Court is quick to note that in the IRS’s answer, the IRS affirmatively pleaded numerous allegations in support of its fraud penalty determinations. The IRS engaged in informal discovery, and when the petitioners failed to…