SCOTUS Holds In Boechler That The 30-Day Time Limit To File A Tax Court Petition Is Not A Hard Deadline

• Published date: 03 May 2022
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Tax, Trials & Appeals & Compensation, Tax Authorities
• Law Firm: Winston & Strawn LLP
• Author: Mr James N. Mastracchio, Susan Elizabeth Seabrook, Todd G. Betor, Karl Kurzatkowski and Zachary Weit

On April 21, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Boechler, P.C. v. Commissioner¹ that the 30-day time limit under Internal Revenue Code ('I.R.C.' or 'Code') ' 6330(d)(1) for a taxpayer to file a petition for a collection due process ('CDP') hearing with the United States Tax Court is a non-jurisdictional deadline. The Supreme Court's holding is significant because, as a non-jurisdictional deadline, I.R.C. ' 6330(d)(1)'s 30-day time limit would not prohibit the Tax Court from considering an untimely filed petition when appropriate.

I.R.C. ' 6330(d)(1) provides that a 'person may, within 30 days of a determination under this section, petition the Tax Court for review of such determination (and the Tax Court shall have jurisdiction with respect to such matter).' The Internal Revenue Service ('IRS'), the Tax Court, and other Federal Courts have treated this 30-day deadline as jurisdictional, meaning that a taxpayer who files an untimely petition for a CDP hearing will not have his or her case considered by the Tax Court.²

This very event happened in Boechler, where the taxpayer'Boechler, P.C. ('Boechler'), a law firm based in North Dakota'filed a petition for a CDP hearing with the Tax Court on August 29, 2017, one day after the 30-day deadline of August 28, 2017, under I.R.C. ' 6330(d)(1). Because of this untimely filing, the IRS moved to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction. Boechler objected to the motion, arguing that the 30-day time limit under I.R.C. ' 6330(d)(1) is non-jurisdictional; but, if the Court found it to be jurisdictional, Boechler argued in the alternative that I.R.C. ' 6330(d)(1) is subject to equitable tolling and that the 30-day period, which, for the IRS's and Tax Court's method of calculation, commences on the date of mailing rather than the date of receipt, violates Boechler's rights under the 5th Amendment because the method is arbitrary. Relying on well-established case law that has held that the 30-day time limit under I.R.C. ' 6330(d)(1) is jurisdictional and not subject to equitable tolling, the Tax Court dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction, and the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed.³

In analyzing whether I.R.C. ' 6330(d)(1)'s deadline is jurisdictional, the Supreme Court focused on the parenthetical at the end of the sentence: '(and the Tax Court shall have jurisdiction with respect to such matter).'⁴ Specifically, the Court focused on the meaning of the phrase...