Dog the Bounty Hunter Was Late to His Fight With the IRS

Reality star Duane Lee Chapman—better known as Dog the Bounty Hunter—and his now-deceased wife, Alice E. Smith, didn’t get back to the IRS on time.

They were challenging deficiencies and penalties for inaccuracy under tax code Section 6662(a) and tax additions under Section 6651(a)(1).

The U.S. Tax Court dismissed the couple’s case on jurisdictional grounds because they missed the deadline with their April 25, 2014, petition disputing deficiencies the agency determined on Nov. 29, 2012. Generally, a taxpayer must file a petition disputing a deficiency within 90 days of when the Internal Revenue Service mails the notice.

The couple argued the deficiency notices were invalid because the IRS didn’t mail the documents to what they said was a more recent known address—the Honolulu, Hawaii, address of their bail bond business.

Instead, the IRS mailed copies to each of them at Los Angeles addresses matching the business locations of their current and former tax return preparers.

The Tax Court concluded that one of the Los Angeles addresses was the couple’s last-known address under tax code Section 6212(b)(1).

The case is Chapman v. Commissioner, T.C., No. 9242-14, 8/29/19