ORAL ARGUMENT: Loving v IRS

DATE/TIME: 9:30 a.m. / Tuesday, September 24, 2013
(Allow ample time to get through security.)

*Attorneys available for interviews immediately following argument*

LOCATION: The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Courtroom 11 (4th floor), E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse
333 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001

SUMMARY: In a lawsuit that has generated significant national media coverage, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral argument tomorrow in Loving v IRS.

In January, a federal judge struck down the IRS’s attempt to impose a nationwide licensing scheme on tax preparers, saving tens of thousands of tax preparers from being forced to close their businesses just before tax season. The Wall Street Journal editorial board explained that the ruling “struck a blow for competition and the rule of law.”

The Institute for Justice will defend that victory in a federal court of appeals on behalf of three independent tax preparers whose livelihoods were threatened by the unlawful IRS licensing scheme. As the district court correctly found, Congress never gave the IRS the authority to license tax preparers, and the IRS can’t give itself that power.

FOR MEDIA INTERVIEWS, CONTACT BOB EWING
703.682.9320 OR [email protected]

The IRS regulations would have forced tax preparers to get IRS permission before they could work, and were expected to drive up the cost of tax-return preparation for the nearly 100 million taxpayers who rely on a tax preparer each year. Unsurprisingly, big firms such as H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt support the licensing scheme. As The Economist explained, the regulations would likely “push mom and pop [tax preparers] into another line of work.”

For more on the lawsuit, visit www.ij.org/IRS. The Institute for Justice is the national law firm for liberty. IJ is available on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.