IRS Gains 'Powerful New Tool' to Evade Accountability, Gorsuch Warns
IRS employee abuses
“The short of it all is this: The IRS seeks, and the Court endorses, a view of the law that gives that agency a roadmap for evading Tax Court review and never having to answer a taxpayer’s complaint that it has made a mistake.”
– Justice Neil Gorsuch
A recent Supreme Court decision in Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Zuch has handed the IRS a troubling new mechanism to sidestep accountability, according to Justice Neil Gorsuch’s dissent. The case, stemming from a 2012 dispute over Jennifer Zuch’s 2010 tax return, highlights how the IRS can exploit jurisdictional loopholes to dismiss taxpayer challenges.
After misallocating a $50,000 payment and applying Zuch’s subsequent overpayments to a disputed liability, the IRS moved to dismiss her Tax Court case, claiming no active levy existed. The Supreme Court upheld this, stripping Zuch of the chance to recover overpayments and setting a precedent that allows the IRS to evade review by manipulating case status.
Gorsuch warned that this ruling provides the IRS a “roadmap for evading Tax Court review,” undermining taxpayers’ ability to hold the agency accountable for errors. This decision further erodes trust in an agency already criticized for misleading practices and poor service, as seen in prior TIGTA reports.
Read the full opinion here.
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