Tax and Administrative Law

By Lacey Strachan and Evan Davis

Will Courts Limit or Eliminate So-Called Chevron Deference to Administrative Regulations?

Introduction

Tax litigation is about the Tax Code, right? Well, partly right. It’s as much, or more, about tax regulations. For a variety of reasons—respect for the Treasury Department’s expertise, unwillingness to make hard political decisions—Congress routinely passes broad-brush tax legislation and relies on the Treasury Department to paint the details through regulations and other publications. Taxpayers may not like Treasury’s judgment calls. What happens when they fight tax regulations in court? That depends in large part on how deferential courts are to Treasury’s regulations.