Sen. Jim Justice’s Son in $21 Million Tax Tiff Over Coal Losses

The son of Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) is fighting a $21.4 million dollar tax bill, alleging the IRS wrongly repealed refunds stemming from coal mining losses and amended returns claimed on several of the family’s business entities.

Jay Justice runs the family’s agricultural and mining operations and seven of its coal mining entities. In a US Tax Court petition, Justice challenged the IRS’s assertion that he improperly carried back large net operating losses from 2017 back to 2009 and erroneously claimed a $17.8 million refund, for which the agency assessed a $3.6 million penalty.

The losses, tied to several ...