Does the United States Tax Court have Jurisdiction to Review Penalties Assessed by the IRS for Not Timely filing Form 3520 or 3520-A?
By Anthony Diosdi IntroductionMost tax penalties and other civil sanctions for noncompliance with internal revenue laws are located in Chapter 68 of the Internal Revenue Code. Chapter 68 authorizes the assessment of civil sanctions for fraud, negligence, and delinquency penalties. These civil sanctions are subject to the deficiency process. This means that a taxpayer is afforded the opportunity of judicial review by the United States Tax Court before these penalties can be assessed and collected by the IRS. On the other hand, the authority to assess most international penalties is embedded in Chapter 61 of the Internal Revenue Code. Notwithstanding these differences in geography, all international penalties are “assessable penalties,” meaning that they may be assessed and collected without the IRS having to resort to providing an individual an opportunity…