Tax Court Deadlines: Greater Leeway for Taxpayers?

September 13, 2023  |  New York Law Journal

Following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Boechler v. Commissioner, a split has emerged in the lower courts over the significance of the 90-day deadline for aggrieved taxpayers to petition the Tax Court to review deficiencies found by the IRS. In his latest New York Law Journal article, Morvillo Abramowitz partner Jeremy H. Temkin explores the different approaches taken by the Tax Court and Eleventh Circuit, both of which have treated the 90-day deadline as jurisdictional (thereby barring the Tax Court from reviewing the IRS’s action), and the Third Circuit, which has viewed the deadline as a “claims-processing” rule (and allowed the Tax Court to apply equitable principles in deciding whether to reach the merits of late-filed petitions). The differing treatment of untimely petitions reflects disagreements regarding the scope of Boechler and, pending further review by the Supreme Court, the significance of various deadlines in the Internal Revenue Code will depend on both the precise statutory language at issue and the jurisdiction in which the case is litigated. 

Tax Court Deadlines: Greater Leeway for Taxpayers? (pdf | 136.95 KB)