There are five federal courts that have jurisdiction over disputes between taxpayers and the Government.
All tax cases are first tried in one of three lower level trial courts: the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. District Court, or U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Tax cases tried in all of these courts are later appealed to the U.S. Courts of Appeals. Although it is a national court, the U.S. Tax Court hears cases in different locations around the country, and appeals of Tax Court cases are heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Circuit in which the taxpayer resides. Appeals of cases from the U.S. District Courts are heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Circuit in which they sit. Appeals from cases decided by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims are heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
As with all federal cases, the court of last resort is the U.S. Supreme Court.
U.S. Tax Court
The U.S. Tax Court is a specialized court that hears only federal tax cases at the trial level. Before 1943, the U.S. Tax Court was called the Board of Tax Appeals (BTA).
Taxpayers appearing before the Tax Court are not required to pay the disputed tax amount before the case is heard (i.e., "deficiency procedure"). However, if unsuccessful, the taxpayer will owe interest on the tax liability in dispute. Jury trials are not offered.
The Tax Court issues three types of decisions: (2) summary decisions, (2) regular decisions, and (3) memorandum decisions.
Summary decisions are issued in "small" cases, which is an expedited procedure for individual taxpayers with less than $50,000 in tax liability. Summary decisions are not appealable, and thus are not considered precedent. There is no official or unofficial reporter for summary decisions.
- Tax Notes Research
Freely available resource for opinions and other documents from federal tax-related court cases.
- U.S. Tax Court
Summary Opinions (2001 -), U.S. Tax Court Reports (1995 -), and Memorandum Opinions (1995 -)
