Tax Court Again Holds IRS Penalties Don’t Require Jury Trials

A partnership contesting a tax penalty on a disallowed $49.7 million conservation easement donation lost its bid to force a jury trial.

Judge Cary Douglas Pugh of the US Tax Court denied two motions for partial summary judgment filed by Kellum Resources LLC.

Kellum argued that last year’s Supreme Court opinion in SEC v. Jarkesy, which required a jury trial when the government tries to impose certain penalties, applied to the civil fraud penalties levied on it under IRC Section 6663(a).

The court said it foreclosed that argument in an August opinion against another partnership contesting civil fraud ...