Tax Cases

All tax cases originate in one of three lower level trial courts: the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. District Court, or U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Appeals of U.S. District Court and U.S. Tax Court cases are heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the relevant circuit. While the Tax Court is a national court, cases are heard in locations throughout the country, and appeals are heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the circuit in which the taxpayer resides. Appeals of Court of Federal Claims cases are heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court of last resort for all cases is the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Court, Court of Federal Claims, and Court of Appeals cases are published in the usual federal reporters. Remember that trial court cases are often not published.

Tax Court Decisions

Before 1943, the U.S. Tax Court was called the Board of Tax Appeals (BTA).

The Tax Court issues three types of decisions: (1) summary decisions, (2) regular decisions and (3) memorandum decisions. Tax court cases and orders after May, 1986 are available to the public from the Tax Court's website.

Summary decisions are issued in “small” cases, with expedited procedures for individual taxpayers with less than $10,000 in tax liability. Summary decisions are not appealable. They are not precedential and are not officially reported.

Unofficial reports are available from the Tax Court, and on Lexis, Westlaw, and Checkpoint.

Regular decisions involve disputes of law, and are decided by the entire court en banc. They are precedential. Officially published in the U.S. Tax Court Reports (T.C.), (U.S. Board of Tax Appeals Reports (B.T.A.) before 1942). They are unofficially published in CCH's Tax Court Reporter and RIA's Tax Court Reports.

Decisions are available from the Tax Court, Lexis, Westlaw, Hein, Bloomberg Law Tax portfolio, and Checkpoint.

Memorandum decisions deal with established legal issues and hinge on interpretations of fact, and they are decided by the trial judge.

Memorandum Decisions (T.C. Memo.) are unofficially published in two  publications, both  titled Tax Court Memorandum Decisions (T.C.M.). Competing versions of T.C.M. (with different pagination schemes) are published by RIA and CCH. WCL has access to RIA publications through Thompson Reuters Checkpoint. is link opens in a new window

From 1928 to 1942, memorandum decisions were unofficially published in Prentice-Hall's Board of Tax Appeals Memorandum Decisions (B.T.A.M.).

Additionally, tax related opinions are published in RIA's American Federal Tax Reports (AFTR), available on Thompson Reuters Checkpoint, and CCH's United States Tax Cases (USTC). Opinions may be published in AFTR or USTC even if the case is not officially reported.