CIC vows to take IRS battle to the Supreme Court

CIC Services has warned the Internal Revenue Service that its battle against the tax authority’s “abuse of law-abiding taxpayers is not over,” vowing to take its case all the way to the Supreme Court.

On August 28 the Sixth Circuit denied CIC’s petition for a review of a case originally heard in 2017. That case had seen CIC file a lawsuit against the IRS seeking an injunction from the federal district court to prohibit the enforcement of Notice 2016-66, which was denied.

In the recent hearing seven judges voted in favour of a review and nine voting against.

Sean King, principal and in house counsel at CIC Services, said: “We are thrilled to have received a compelling dissenting opinion in our favor in which those seven judges expressed severe doubts about the soundness of the original 2-1 panel decision against us, and indicated their strong preference to rehear the case.”

Even one of the judges who voted against the review on technical grounds wrote separately to say that the Sixth Circuit panel's original 2-1 decision against CIC was almost certainly wrong, he added.

King expressed hope that the Supreme Court would hear CIC’s case, and noted that “based on its 9-0 precedent in the Direct Marketing case, we expect to win if it does.”