Tax Court Says 90 Day Deadline For Redetermination of Employment Status Does Not Apply!

According to Law360, a jewelry company's one-day-late filing of a petition for reconsideration of an employment tax determination does not deprive the U.S. Tax Court of jurisdiction in the case, the court said On June 25, 2024, denying the IRS' attempt to get the case tossed in Belagio Fine Jewelry Inc. v. Commissioner, U.S. Tax Court docket number 35762-21.

Since Congress did not clearly state that the 90-day deadline to file for a redetermination of employment status is a jurisdictional requirement, the court does not lose jurisdiction based on Bellagio Fine Jewelry Inc.'s late filing, Judge Travis A. Greaves said in the opinion. The Internal Revenue Service had moved to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction. 

Judge Greaves further said the relevant historical treatment of Section 7436(b)(2), which established the deadline, also doesn't demonstrate that Congress intended for it to be jurisdictional.

Following an audit, the IRS determined in 2021 that the company had an unreported employee in 2016 and 2017, saying that it owed employment taxes as well as other penalties, according to the court. 

The Company Mailed Its Petition Contesting This Determination To The Court Four Days Prior To The Deadline To File It,
But The Petition Showed Up One Day Late.

The company also argued that the 90-day deadline should be subject to equitable tolling, but the court said it would reserve judgment on that argument until a proper dispositive motion regarding the matter is presented.

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