What are your chances of getting hit by lightning in your lifetime? 1 in 3,000 or a 0.03% chance.
Your chances of dying during a shark attack? Even higher at 1.5%. And, that’s if you get attacked.
How about your chances of winning a case against the IRS? It has to be pretty low, right?
The Federal Government is a pretty airtight operation, after all.
Surprisingly, taxpayers win some or all of their cases against the IRS about 14% of the time.
Attorney Counsel represented more of those cases than not. And only 6% of those who tried without a tax attorney won, and their attempts were based on frivolous arguments.
Why is it better to fight the IRS with a tax lawyer on your side rather than on your own? Here’s why.
Famous Tax Court Cases Where People Fought the IRS and Won
Cases in which people fight the IRS get significant press coverage, especially if they win. It seems, however, that for the majority of Americans, this doesn’t affect the perception that it’s impossible to fight the IRS. Here are a few cases where people had cases won against the IRS.
Federal Tax Suits – The IRS Vs. A Tax Preparation Business For Alleged False Filings On COVID-19 Tax Credits And Relief Funds
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. Briley et al
Attorney Silver settled a $53 Million Dollar Tax liability for $7.5 Million, saving the Clients and Corporation over $45+ Million Dollars.
On September 30, 2022, Attorney Silver in US V. Briley et al., (case number 6:22-cv-00204, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas) negotiated one of the largest Tax Settlements in the Country.
The United States filed a civil injunction suit to permanently bar 8 people and 1 corporation, Elite Tax Solutions, from preparing federal income tax returns for others.
In addition, the court required payment obtained for filing of the alleged false COVID relief funds be paid back. These claims fall under the IRS’ list of “Dirty Dozen” tax scams of 2020 during the pandemic and its aftermath.
See more on: https://www.justice.gov/
Cases like U.S. v. Briley – where the IRS pursues civil injunctions alongside criminal referrals – are exactly why having an experienced criminal tax defense attorney before any government contact is made can be the difference between a negotiated resolution and a conviction.
A Nurse and the IRS
Here is one of those rare cases where someone represented herself and won. She wasn’t a lawyer. She was a shift nurse at a hospital in Maryland.
In 2006, the IRS notified Lori A. Singleton-Clarke they would audit her tax return. She had reported $50,000 in income from her nursing job. She’d also included deductions for her MBA for health management professionals from the University of Phoenix.
Because the school was an online school, the IRS attempted to discount her deduction and claimed she owed an extra $2,126. She had claimed other deductions and agreed to remove those. But when the IRS wanted her to leave off the school expenses, she refused.
After several notices, Lori filed a challenge to the IRS at the U.S. Tax Court. She couldn’t afford a lawyer, so she took on the IRS like David against Goliath.
The IRS cited Treasury Regulation 1.162-5(a) that states your professional educational expenses must enhance a current skill set. It can’t qualify you for a new job. They argued that the MBA had nothing to do with her current role as a nurse.
Singleton-Clarke Claimed the courses she took gave her credibility in her job and made her more effective at her current position as a head nurse. The court sided with Singleton-Clarke, and they allowed the expenses.
Woman Avoids Jail by Fighting the IRS
Fighting the IRS won’t always get you out of paying your taxes. Some people have refused to pay their taxes so long the IRS charges them criminally and sends them to jail. One woman fought her criminal charge and avoided jail.
The IRS charged Vernice Kuglin with six accounts of tax evasion. Vernice had studied the constitution and believed the Federal Government didn’t have the power to tax her income. According to her, the IRS is misapplying what the founding fathers set forth. Eventually, her rebellion caught up to her.
Vernice enlisted the help of Larry Becraft who specialized in protester cases. And it mainly because of his involvement that Vernice was able to avoid jail time.
Becraft presented to the jury a story. Vernice had asked the IRS to explain the tax laws to her, and the IRS had ignored her requests for justification. The jury sided with Ms. Kuglin, and they acquitted her of all criminal charges.
Unfortunately for Vernice, this did not determine whether the IRS had the right to take her money or not. And she still had to pay her taxes to the Federal Government.
Wesley Snipes Loses in Fight with IRS
We figured we should balance the narrative with a case of loss and woe. You won’t always win your fight against the IRS. Remember, they are a powerful arm of the government, and you only have a 14% chance of winning.
The IRS doesn’t care a wit whether you’re famous or not. They only care that you have money and that you’re paying them their “fair share.” Wesley Snipes thought his celebrity status would get him out of paying over $23 million.
Snipes counter-offered $842,000. The IRS said “no.”
Tax evasion isn’t a recent phenomenon for our venerable vampire. In 2008, the court convicted wesley snipes of three misdemeanor counts of failing to file his tax returns. He spent time in a minimum security Federal prison.
He’d listened to a couple of tax fraudsters who claimed Snipes didn’t have to legally pay his taxes. These were accountants Eddie Ray Kahn and Douglas P. Rosile who ended up with longer jail terms than Snipes.
What’s the lesson here? Don’t fight the IRS when you’ve committed a crime. Oh, and don’t try to use your celebrity status; it just doesn’t work.
Recent Client Wins: 2025 – 2026 Case Results
The cases above are landmark court decisions and high-profile settlements. But winning against the IRS happens every day in less publicized settings – through penalty abatement negotiations, audit defense, and compliance resolutions that never reach a courtroom. Here are three recent outcomes from our practice.
Pig Butchering Scam Victim: $214,000 Tax Liability Resolved After IRS Treated Fraud Losses as Taxable Income
A California technology professional came to us after losing $380,000 in a sophisticated cryptocurrency pig butchering scam – an investment fraud scheme where scammers build trust over weeks before convincing victims to transfer funds to fraudulent platforms. The IRS had assessed $214,000 in taxes on transactions the client believed were investment transfers, not taxable income events.
The IRS’s position was that several of the crypto transactions constituted taxable dispositions. Our attorneys documented the fraud through blockchain forensics, scam platform records, and law enforcement filings, and argued the losses qualified as theft losses under IRC §165(c)(2) and that the purported taxable events never generated actual income the client had access to or control over.
After submitting a comprehensive protest with supporting evidence and working through IRS Appeals, the tax liability was reduced from $214,000 to $0. The client also filed amended returns for two prior years to capture the theft loss deduction, resulting in a combined refund of $41,200.
Crypto fraud victims frequently face compounded IRS problems on top of the original loss. If you’ve been targeted by an investment scam involving cryptocurrency, our audit defense team can assess the tax implications and build the documentation needed to fight the IRS’s characterization of those transactions.
FBAR Penalty Abatement: $340,000 in Willful Penalties Reduced Through Reasonable Cause Argument
A dual-citizen business owner with accounts in three countries had filed FBARs inconsistently over a six-year period – filing for some accounts in some years, missing others, and omitting one account entirely for four years. The IRS assessed willful FBAR penalties totaling $340,000, citing the client’s Schedule B disclosures that acknowledged foreign accounts but didn’t match the actual filings.
The willful determination was the central battleground. Our attorneys reviewed the full filing history, the client’s relationship with their prior CPA, and the specific circumstances around each missed filing. The argument we built centered on the client’s reasonable reliance on professional advice and the inconsistency of the IRS’s own willfulness standard – the schedule B disclosures cut both ways, demonstrating the client was not concealing the accounts’ existence.
Through a combination of a first-time abatement request and a detailed reasonable cause protest, we reduced the penalty assessment from $340,000 to $18,500. The resolution preserved the client’s business relationships and avoided the asset seizure the IRS had threatened.
FBAR penalty assessments – especially willful determinations – are not final until you fight them. If you’ve received an FBAR penalty notice, our FBAR compliance and penalty defense team reviews every option available before you write a check.
Crypto Audit Defense: IRS Proposed $187,000 in Additional Tax – Final Assessment: $4,200
A software engineer who had traded actively across four cryptocurrency exchanges in 2021 and 2022 received an IRS audit notice proposing $187,000 in additional tax. The IRS had reconstructed income using exchange 1099-DA forms and applied a first-in, first-out (FIFO) cost basis methodology across all transactions – a calculation that ignored the client’s actual trading records and the specific identification method the client had used.
Our attorneys obtained complete transaction records from all four exchanges, reconciled every trade using the client’s documented specific identification elections, and rebuilt the cost basis analysis from scratch. The IRS’s reconstruction had also double-counted several transactions where funds moved between the client’s own wallets – treating intra-wallet transfers as taxable dispositions.
The corrected analysis reduced the proposed additional tax from $187,000 to $4,200. The client paid the $4,200, avoided the accuracy-related penalties on the original proposal, and walked away with a complete transaction record that will support their position in any future IRS review.
Crypto audits almost always involve IRS methodology errors – wrong cost basis, miscounted transactions, or mischaracterized transfers. If you’ve received a crypto audit notice, our IRS audit defense team handles the full technical reconstruction and IRS negotiation so you don’t overpay by default.
Tax Court FAQs
Do you know your tax rights? If you did have to go to court against the IRS, could you legitimately defend yourself? Most people wouldn’t be able to answer either of those questions with certainty.
Here’s how the U.S. Tax Court works and what you should expect if you have to appear there.
How Does a Dispute End Up in the U.S. Tax Court? Who Sends It There?
You have two choices when the IRS audits you: agree or disagree. If you take the blue pill, you pay your taxes and move on. If you take the red pill, you receive a “notice of deficiency” from the IRS, and you have ninety days to petition the Tax Court.
You take the case to the U.S. Tax Court. You’re suing the IRS. Are you feeling powerful yet?
Who Runs the Tax Court?
The Tax Court is not one single location. Nineteen judges travel to the fifty states and preside over cases. There is no jury in the U.S. Tax Court.
The only time a case goes to civilian court is when the IRS wants to bring criminal charges against an individual. In the Vernice Kuglin case, a jury acquitted her of her crimes.
How Do You Present Evidence in U.S. Tax Court?
You need some airtight evidence that the IRS is wrong about your taxes before you sue them. If you claim a deduction for mileage, you drove for your business, and the IRS says you didn’t travel those miles, you at least need a mileage log.
Even a mileage log might not be sufficient. You need the receipts for the gas and maybe even invoices for sales you made while driving. It all comes down to the records you keep in this case.
When you submit the evidence, the IRS then has a responsibility to prove them wrong or accept them. Since you’re suing the IRS, the burden of proof is initially on you, and you toss it on them once you provide sufficient evidence.
Who Can You Bring Alongside You in Court?
You can bring anyone you like alongside you in court. But unless you plan on bringing someone for emotional support, your best option is an attorney who is an expert in tax law. Unless your accountant can provide evidence or be a witness, they’ll be useless in the tax court as representation.
What you need is an attorney who has been admitted to the bar of the Tax Court. They’ve been trained in the particulars of tax law. They’ll be familiar with past cases and know how to use precedent in your favor.
Witnesses are also useful. The court doesn’t care about your character as in a murder trial, but they care about whether you violated tax law. You need witnesses who can back up your evidence against the IRS.
This could mean an employee who can verify your expenses or a client who received your services. An employer who can show the court what they require you to pay out of pocket for your job can also be an asset in your case.
What Happens When a Judge Makes a Determination?
If you’re familiar with a regular court in the United States, you may expect the judge to make a determination right away. Often, in smaller courts, you’ll sit across the table from a judge, and they’ll hear you talk and make a decision within a few minutes to an hour. This isn’t the case with the tax court.
You’ll present your information to the traveling judge. The judge will weigh the case along with the other cases he must preside over. If the case isn’t complicated, you might hear back from the court in a few months. But if the case is involved, you might not hear again for a year or two.
What Happens If You Lose?
Remember, your odds of winning still aren’t high. You’re more likely to lose than win unless you have some incredibly airtight evidence you’re right. So, what happens if you lose?
The biggest downside to the Small Case Court: you can’t appeal. While it’s cheaper and more informal, you’re stuck with the judge’s decision no matter what.
If you choose the regular tax court, you can appeal if you lose. You have ninety days to file an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals which is above the U. S. Tax Court.
Also, a note of warning: don’t bring a frivolous case to the court. If you waste the court’s time, you could incur a penalty on top of your taxes. A frivolous lawsuit usually means a case meant to annoy the other party, and it includes any case without sufficient evidence.
Don’t look like a fool. Have everything together and do your research before you approach the court.
Can I Deduct the Cost of Tax Court on My Taxes?
If the case is related to your business, you may deduct the tax attorney expenses. Otherwise, you can’t.
If the case involves both business and personal taxes, you can only deduct the cost of the business portion of the case. The court will try both parts of your audit, and you will easily be able to separate the expenses.
Types of Tax Court Cases
You will most likely want to file your case as a small tax case unless you owe more than $50,000. A regular tax case is more expensive and is generally for those who owe much more than the $50,000 limit. Be sure you make your designation when you file your petition on the court website.
If you are going to represent yourself, then choose the Small Case Tax court. This option is more informal than the regular U.S. Tax Court.
Remember, the IRS has no say in your designation. If you get any resistance from the IRS or the IRS mistakenly places you in a different court, contact an attorney right away.
How to Find a Reputable Tax Attorney
1. Proper Qualifications
A tax counsel with the proper qualifications must have a Juris Doctor degree which is commonly referred to as J.D. They must also have been admitted to the state bar.
In addition to the above, a tax counsel needs to have advanced training in tax law. That will most likely come from a master of laws degree in taxation (LL.M.)
It is not uncommon for tax counsel to also have a background in accounting. A CPA is, therefore, an added bonus that can help them better serve your tax needs.
2. Speak Directly to An Attorney Before You Sign Up
Nowadays unscrupulous people take advantage of those who need tax counsel services to con them of their money. A notorious example of this is the tax debt resolution scams that people lose a lot of money on.
When you call a tax counsel’s office, you may get salespeople talking to you. No matter how refined and qualified they sound you should not sign anything before speaking to the lawyer directly.
Lawyers are legally bound by ethical obligations provided by the state bar to follow specific guidelines. As a result, it is possible to verify if you are taking to an actual lawyer by cross-checking this information.
3. Check Their Track Record
Nothing speaks to the capabilities of a tax counsel than the testimonials of those who have passed through their hands.
When you’re looking for a tax counsel, you can ask your family and friends for a referral. In case they do not know of anyone they can point you to, you can check out tax attorney reviews.
Looking for client reviews to hear what past clients have to say and you may find that the firm helped someone in a very similar situation to yours.
Should You Hire a Tax Attorney to Fight The IRS?
A tax defense attorney can always help. Even if your chances of winning aren’t great and you know it, a potential settlement is better than losing against the IRS. You could lessen your tax burden significantly. And if the IRS disregards your records and evidence entirely, you can file a motion to have your attorney fees reimbursed.
The cases above – from the $45 million saved in U.S. v. Briley to the nurse who beat the IRS in Tax Court without a lawyer, to the crypto trader who cut a $187,000 proposed bill down to $4,200 – share one common thread: someone decided to push back. Sometimes that means going to court. More often, it means building a documented case and forcing the IRS to defend their own numbers.
If you believe the IRS is wrong – or if you need to resolve a compliance issue before the IRS finds you first – the time to act is now. Schedule a free consultation with Silver Tax Group today. We’ll review your situation, tell you exactly what your options are, and tell you the truth about your chances. No pressure. No sales pitch. Just answers.
Have a tax debt you’re trying to resolve through an Offer in Compromise? We’ve helped clients reduce IRS balances by as much as 90%. See how the Offer in Compromise process works and whether you qualify. Facing an IRS audit? Our audit defense attorneys handle everything from correspondence audits to full field examinations. Dealing with an IRS criminal investigation? Our criminal tax defense team has the courtroom experience to protect you at every stage.
Statute of Limitations: The Timeline That Decides Everything
In several of the cases above, the outcome hinged on when the IRS initiated the audit relative to the filing date. The general rule is three years, but fraud allegations, substantial understatements, and unfiled returns each extend that window differently. Before you decide whether to fight, settle, or wait, you need to know exactly how much time the IRS has left. Our guide to IRS audit statutes of limitation explains the three-year, six-year, and unlimited audit windows and what triggers each one.
