Taxpayers are asking the Supreme Court to decide if they have the right to a jury trial when facing IRS penalties, a decision that could upend tax enforcement and signal to the wealthy that evasion will be easier.
The efforts follow the high court’s 2024 SEC v. Jarkesy decision striking down a penalty levied by the Securities and Exchange Commission without a jury trial on Seventh Amendment grounds. Now, multiple taxpayer rights groups are pushing for the court to apply the same jury trial requirement in tax cases in Hirsch v. US Tax Court.
“The immediate impact would be you’ll ...