Tax Lawsuits Edge Downward

Table 1. District Court Tax Lawsuits
Number Latest Month 68
Percent Change from previous month 9.7%
Percent Change from 1 year ago -9.8%
Percent Change from 5 years ago -32.4%

The latest available data from the federal courts show that during January 2014 the government reported 68 new civil filings under the category of "Taxes." According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number represents a decline of nearly 10 percent from one year ago. Tax lawsuits have declined a total of 32.4 percent from the levels reported five years ago in January 2009. The January 2014 figure is however up 9.7 percent over the previous month, when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 62.

The comparisons of the number of civil filings for tax lawsuits are based on case-by-case court records which were compiled and analyzed by TRAC (see Table 1). Note that the cases covered by this report exclude suits dealing with summonses on third-party witnesses under 26 USC 7609.

Bar and line plot of fymon
Figure 1. Tax Lawsuit Filings over the Past Five Years

The long term trend in taxes lawsuit filings going back five years is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of tax lawsuits recorded each month. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. One-year and five-year change comparisons are based upon the moving averages.

Pie chart of jurisdiction
Figure 2. Jurisdiction
for Tax Lawsuits

Jurisdiction

Within limits set by Congress and the Constitution, the federal district courts have jurisdiction to hear cases falling under any one of several categories. In the case of tax lawsuits, jurisdiction either involves the U.S. Government as defendant or plaintiff. Nearly three quarters (72%) of civil filings of these matters in January 2014 fell under the classification "U.S. Government Plaintiff". In just over one quarter (28%) of lawsuits filed, the U.S. Government was named as defendant.

Cause of Action

Various federal statutes are invoked as the cause of action in tax lawsuits. The most commonly used for the month of January 2014 were 26 USC 7401 — "IRS: Tax Liability" (37%), 26 USC 7402 — "IRS: Petition to Enforce IRS Summons" (25%), 26 USC 7403 — "Suit to Enforce Federal Tax Lien" (9%), 26 USC 7422 — "IRS: Refund Taxes" (6%) and 28 USC 1346 — "Recovery of IRS Tax" (4%).

Top Ranked Judicial Districts

Table 2. Top Ten Districts
Judicial District Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago
Cal, C 8 1 1 1
Texas, W 4 2 - 8
Cal, N 4 2 11 3
Fla, M 4 2 2 19
Cal, S 3 5 20 -
Cal, E 3 5 20 -
N. J. 3 5 - 8
La, M 2 8 - -
Idaho 2 8 20 -
Virg, W 2 8 - 19
Minnesota 2 8 - -
Ohio, S 2 8 11 -
Mass 2 8 11 -
Fla, S 2 8 - 5
Texas, S 2 8 11 3
Ill, N 2 8 - 19

Understandably, there is great variation in the number of tax lawsuits filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts. Table 2 lists the ten districts that saw the greatest activity in such filings in January 2014.

  • The Central District of California — with 8 civil filings — was the most active through January 2014. This district was also top-ranked one year ago as well as five years ago.

  • The Western District of Texas, Northern District of California and Middle District of Florida were all tied for second place. The Middle District of Florida was ranked second one year ago.

The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in tax lawsuits compared to one year ago — 200 percent — was the Southern District of California. Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 300 percent — was the Middle District of Florida.

Tax Lawsuits Filed

Table 3 lists all individual cases of this type either filed or re-opened in January 2014. You may sort the table by clicking on any of the column headings; click again to reverse the sort.

Table 3. Individual Tax Lawsuits Filed in January 2014
District Case Title Case Number Date Filed
New York, E United States of America v. Evseroff, et al 1:2000cv06029 2000-10-05
Texas, W Woods v. United States 5:2005cv00216 2005-03-18
Arizona United States of America v Jordan 4:2006cv00313 2006-06-20
Virginia, W United States of America v. Parr et al 3:2010cv00061 2010-11-04
Idaho Wilson v. United States of America 1:2014cv00001 2014-01-02
California, N United States of America v. Prasad 3:2014cv00013 2014-01-02
Arkansas, E Brooks v. Moody et al 4:2014cv00005 2014-01-02
Washington, W United States of America v. Mason 2:2014cv00015 2014-01-06
Texas, W United States of America v. Pacheco et al 5:2014cv00011 2014-01-06
California, C United States of America v. Raymond G. Novelli 8:2014cv00018 2014-01-06
California, C Hamid Rashidian et al v. The Internal Revenue Service et al 8:2014cv00016 2014-01-06
Texas, S United States of America v. Trowbridge, Jr. et al 4:2014cv00027 2014-01-07
Florida, M United States of America v. Narvaez 6:2014cv00022 2014-01-07
Florida, M United States of America v. Narvaez 6:2014cv00021 2014-01-07
New Jersey United States of America v. Puorro 2:2014cv00154 2014-01-08
New Jersey United States of America v. Clay 1:2014cv00116 2014-01-08
California, C IP Networks Inc. et al v. Fiberco Inc. et al 8:2014cv00029 2014-01-08
Missouri, W United States of America v. Novell et al 6:2014cv03009 2014-01-09
Massachusetts Marple v. Internal Revenue Service 1:2014cv10055 2014-01-09
Kentucky, E USA v. Edwards 5:2014cv00009 2014-01-09
California, E Omega Waste Management, Inc. et al v. Internal Revenue Service et al 2:2014cv00058 2014-01-09
Minnesota United States of America v. Live Spark, Inc. et al 0:2014cv00112 2014-01-10
Michigan, W Plassman v. United States of America 1:2014cv00031 2014-01-10
Maryland United States of America v. SNS Liquor Corporation 1:2014cv00068 2014-01-10
Florida, M United States of America v. Hunter et al 5:2014cv00017 2014-01-10
Texas, W Robinson v. Internal Revenue Service 5:2014cv00046 2014-01-13
California, C Shahab Arianpour v. United States of America 2:2014cv00293 2014-01-13
Texas, W United States of America v. Rivera et al 3:2014cv00016 2014-01-14
Mississippi, S United States of America v. McFarland et al 3:2014cv00029 2014-01-14
Louisiana, M United States v. Chauncey et al 3:2014cv00032 2014-01-14
Illinois, S United States of America v. Powers 3:2014cv00047 2014-01-14
California, S Kohrmann v. United States of America 3:2014cv00024 2014-01-14
Illinois, N United States of America v. ROTEC Industries, Inc. 1:2014cv00269 2014-01-15
California, C Teresa A. DeCrescenzo v. United States of America 2:2014cv00357 2014-01-15
Virginia, W United States of America v. Wallis 6:2014cv00005 2014-01-16
Louisiana, W USA v. Congtang 6:2014cv00082 2014-01-16
California, E United States of America v. Hartz 2:2014cv00112 2014-01-16
California, E United States of America v. Garroutte 1:2014cv00066 2014-01-16
South Carolina United States of America v. Dew et al 4:2014cv00166 2014-01-17
Michigan, E Little Italy Oceanside Investments, LLC v. United States of America et al 2:2014cv10217 2014-01-17
Massachusetts United States of America v. Santonastaso et al 4:2014cv40010 2014-01-17
Illinois, N United States of America v. Frances J. Cross Intervivos Trust et al 1:2014cv00358 2014-01-17
Florida, M United States of America v. Hounsom et al 6:2014cv00093 2014-01-21
California, C United States of America v. Royce Gracie et al 2:2014cv00475 2014-01-21
California, N Eslami v. Koskinen 4:2014cv00328 2014-01-22
California, N United States of America v. Simonsen 3:2014cv00324 2014-01-22
California, C United States of America v. Imelda Sanchez 2:2014cv00524 2014-01-22
New Jersey United States of America v. Barron et al 1:2014cv00489 2014-01-23
Minnesota United States of America v. Jones et al 0:2014cv00227 2014-01-23
Louisiana, M United States of America v. Nixon et al 3:2014cv00054 2014-01-27
California, C United States of America v. Maurice Greene 2:2014cv00623 2014-01-27
Alabama, N United States of America v. Murray 2:2013cv01482 2014-01-27
Texas, N United States of America v. Schwarzer et al 4:2014cv00056 2014-01-28
Ohio, S United States of America v. Jackson 1:2014cv00085 2014-01-28
Florida, S United States of America v. Stewart et al 0:2014cv60219 2014-01-28
Wisconsin, E Karow v. United States of America 2:2014cv00096 2014-01-29
Ohio, N United States of America v. Hinz et al 4:2014cv00189 2014-01-29
New Hampshire USA v. Michaud 1:2014cv00046 2014-01-29
Idaho Beal Bank v. United States of America et al 4:2014cv00035 2014-01-29
Georgia, N United States of America v. Allen 1:2014cv00256 2014-01-29
California, S Whitton, Jr. v. Blake 3:2014cv00197 2014-01-29
Utah Pioneer Oil and Gas v. USA 2:2014cv00064 2014-01-30
Texas, S United States of America v. Garcia, Jr. et al 4:2014cv00209 2014-01-30
Connecticut USA v. Bergeron et al 3:2014cv00117 2014-01-30
California, S United States of America v. McCreary 3:2014cv00207 2014-01-30
California, N United States of America v. Bay Area Safe Alternatives Collective, Inc. 4:2014cv00444 2014-01-30
Ohio, S Ron Lykins, Inc. v. United States of America 2:2014cv00125 2014-01-31
Florida, S United States of America v. Saiz 1:2014cv20390 2014-01-31

Each month, TRAC offers a free report focused on one area of civil litigation in the U.S. district courts. In addition, subscribers to the TRACFed data service can generate custom reports by district, office, nature of suit or federal jurisdiction via the TRAC Data Interpreter.