Tax Lawyer's Blog

Bad Tax Lawyer

In commencing the instant action, [Petitioner's Counsel] has disrespected the clear bar of section 6330(c)(2)(B), and he has done so without principled justification. In so doing we find that he acted not only recklessly but in bad faith in commencing and prosecuting the instant case. See Takaba v. Commissioner, 119 T.C. 285, 296-297 (2002).

In sum, [Petitioner's counsel] has unreasonably and vexatiously multiplied the proceedings and should therefore pay personally the excess costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees reasonably incurred by respondent because of his conduct. Sec. 6673(a)(2)(A).

The dockets of U.S. Tax Court judges are quite crowded. To reduce the number of cases pressure is put on IRS appeals officers to settle cases before they get to trial.** Thus, the great majority of IRS disputes are resolved administratively.

Before proceeding to tax court it is critical that the taxpayer first exhaust all administrative remedies. Tax court trials are time consuming and expensive and should be avoided if there is any chance of resolving the matter administratively, which there almost always is.

**This is why whenever a tax court petition is filed the case is docketed and immediately sent to an IRS appeals officer.

Bookmark & Share: