Federalist Society: Are IRS Defenses Crumbling?

Federalist Society, Are IRS Defenses Crumbling?:

The continuous stream of regulations and other guidance the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must publish to inform the public how it is going to implement, administer, and enforce the frequent, numerous, and complicated changes to the tax laws, along with the high dollar stakes involved, create constant opportunities and incentives to challenge the IRS.

Some contend that the IRS’s ability to defend itself against these challenges seems to be vanishing as one after another of their recent court cases have been unsuccessful.

Our speakers discussed this in more detail, along with what they might portend for how the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department issue future guidance. Another direction to watch is at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue: will Congress begin to do a better job drafting laws and providing instructions and guidance about how they are to be implemented, administered, and enforced?

• Kristin Hickman, Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Harlan Albert Rogers Professor in Law, University of Minnesota Law School
• Gilbert Rothenberg, Adjunct Professor of Law, American University's Washington College of Law and the University of Pennsylvania's Carey Law School
• Interlocutor: Robert Carney, Senior Counsel, Caplin & Drysdale; Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
• Moderator: Eileen O'Connor, Founder, Law Office of Eileen J. O'Connor PLLC

Federalist Society, Are IRS Defenses Crumbling?:

Congress’s frequent, numerous, and complicated changes to the tax laws make the Internal Revenue Service's task among the Executive Branch’s most difficult. The continuous stream of regulations and other guidance IRS must publish to inform the public how it is going to implement, administer, and enforce the laws, and the high dollar stakes involved, create constant opportunities and incentives to challenge the IRS.

Like a large building collapsing slowly into itself in a planned demolition, IRS’s ability to defend itself against these challenges seems to be vanishing in clouds of smoke as one recent court defeat after another has the IRS trying to work its way out of the rubble of its former exceptionalism. ...

Tax and administrative law scholars will be watching the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department for changes in the manner in which they issue guidance. Similarly, people who care about tax law will be watching Congress for clues to whether it will do a better job drafting laws and providing instructions and guidance about how they are to be implemented, administered, and enforced.