Justices Urged to Uphold Tax on Unrealized Foreign Earnings

The US Supreme Court should affirm that Congress has the power to levy a mandatory repatriation tax on unrealized foreign earnings under the Sixteenth Amendment, the US Department of Justice said Monday.

Arguments are set for Dec. 5 in the case of Charles and Kathleen Moore, a Washington couple challenging Congress’s power to tax unrealized foreign earnings as income. The Moores have argued that a provision in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is unconstitutional because it targets unrealized gains and the Sixteenth Amendment requires money be realized for it to be taxed as income.

The “transition tax” at ...