Appeals Court Appears Poised to Overrule Tax Court on Mootness

A three-judge federal appeals court panel voiced alarm Wednesday about a US Tax Court ruling that the IRS is able to end a taxpayer’s challenge over back taxes by applying the taxpayer’s recent payments to the disputed back taxes.

Jennifer Zuch is appealing the Tax Court’s decision to dismiss her lawsuit over her 2010 taxes as moot after the Internal Revenue Service credited her 2018 tax refund to the 2010 taxes it claimed she owed.

The agency credited the refund while Zuch’s suit seeking a redetermination of her tax bill and relief from a proposed IRS levy was pending at ...