Rubel v. CIR — tax — affirmance — Shwartz

Suppose the IRS denies your petition and tells you in a letter that your appeal is due April 19, so you appeal on April 19. But actually the statute says your appeal was due a week or two earlier, so the IRS argues that your appeal ought be tossed as untimely.

Fair? Maybe not, but today the Third Circuit held that the appeal deadline was jurisdictional so fairness mattered not. In a footnote, the court primly “remind[ed] the IRS to exercise care when drafting correspondence to a taxpayer.”

Joining Shwartz were Greenaway and Simandle DNJ by designation. Arguing counsel were Carlton Smith of New York for the taxpayer and Richard Caldarone for the government.