Expat’s Failure to Pre-Pay Dooms International Tax Credit Suit

A now-deceased taxpayer had to pay income tax before challenging it in the US Court of Federal Claims, the court said, dismissing the case.

“This jurisdictional issue is straightforward,” Judge David A. Tapp wrote Monday. The court doesn’t have jurisdiction over the dispute if the tax hasn’t yet been paid, he said.

With the exception of the US Tax Court, a majority of federal courts follow that formula. But taxpayers recently have brought a number of challenges related to the validity of the IRS’ tax assessments, testing the limits of jurisdictional rules.

Robert Armitage, a US citizen who ...