Small Businesses Support Decision from Supreme Court on Taxpayer Due Process
U.S. Supreme Court reverses lower court’s decision in Boechler v. IRS
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 21, 2022) – NFIB applauds the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Boechler, P.C. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue. NFIB filed an amicus brief in the case urging the Supreme Court to reverse the Eighth Circuit’s decision upholding the Tax Court’s refusal to hear a taxpayer’s challenge to an IRS assessment. The Supreme Court agreed with NFIB’s brief, holding that a 30-day deadline to file a petition in the Tax Court for review of an IRS collection assessment is not a jurisdictional bar.
“We are pleased with today’s decision from the Supreme Court,” said Karen Harned, Executive Director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center. “Small business owners often handle their own accounting and are left to understand the various and confusing tax rules and regulations that are impacting their business. We are glad the Supreme Court agreed that small business owners should not be penalized with costly and unreasonable fines when they are working hard to comply.”
The case concerned the time limit one has to file petitions with the United States Tax Court to review IRS determinations. NFIB argued that the Tax Court is a court of the United States that should operate like any other court and allow for equitable tolling and other doctrines to help assure taxpayers can have their day before an impartial tribunal. NFIB filed its brief with the National Taxpayers Union.
The NFIB Small Business Legal Center protects the rights of small business owners in the nation’s courts. NFIB is currently active in more than 40 cases in federal and state courts across the country and in the U.S. Supreme Court.
