Actually, this post is really about those brave souls who decide to sue the IRS, one of the most powerful agencies there ever was.  While I was in law school (which seems like a long time ago), I took a tax law class to learn a little bit—and I do mean a little bit—about tax law and our complicated tax code.  Here’s what I took away from the class: (1) I didn’t want to be a tax lawyer; and (2) Don’t mess with the IRS.  Duh.

While this blog usually addresses various legal issues in technology-related matters, I also like to address those brave souls who go the distance in litigation—especially against a government agency.  That is no easy task.  As someone who often finds himself in court and has fought agencies in the past, I found this brief article to be interesting, although not very surprising.   

It highlights the 10 most litigated tax issues and the less-than-optimistic results.  A few of the areas addresssed in the article include gross income, summons enforcement, deductibility of trade/business expenses, family status issues, and penalties for failure to file.  While only a relative handful of cases in each area went all the way through to the end, the amount of time a taxpayer won fully in 8 of the areas ranged from 0% (you can’t get lower than that) to a whopping 10%.  The taxpayer prevailed in issues involving the joint liability of spouses and penalties involving frivolous litigation 24% to 31% of the time.  This is only slightly more encouraging.

The article only discusses those cases that are litigated from start to finish.  It makes no mention of the many cases that, in all likelihood, settled at some point along the way.  Still, I applaud those individuals who do take a stand.  It was an expensive one to be sure, but they did it.  Agencies of all types and sizes usually (but not always) have little to lose by going the distance.  Most people will either tire or be unable to keep paying their lawyers to fight.  And for that select group taxpayers who did prevail, I especially salute you.  Sometimes, you just gotta do what you think is right.  What could be more American than that?