CIC Services’ petition for an en banc review of its challenge against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Notice 2016-66 has been denied by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
The Court of Appeals denied the petition by two votes with nine judges voting against CIC Services and seven voting in favour of the firm.
After vowing to continue its fight against the IRS in May, following the original denial of its challenge in the appellate court, CIC Services filed a petition requesting en banc review of its case by all active judges on the Sixth Circuit.
Commenting on the decision, Sean King, general counsel at CIC Services, said that although the petition was denied, “we are thrilled to have received a compelling dissenting opinion in our favour in which those seven judges expressed severe doubts about the soundness of the original 2-1 panel decision against us and indicated their strong preference to rehear the case en banc”.
King explained: “Even one of the judges who concurred on technical grounds with the majority opinion denying our petition for en banc review wrote separately to say that the Sixth Circuit panel’s original 2-1 decision against us was almost certainly wrong.”
He emphasises that the firm’s battle to “curtail IRS abuse of law-abiding taxpayers is not over”.
King suggested that the firm will be asking the US Supreme Court to hear the case. He said: “We hope that it will do so and, based on its 9-0 precedent in the Direct Marketing case, we expect to win if it does”.
In agreement with King, another source said: “It appears that [the case] can only be settled by the US Supreme Court”.
