Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Beating back the IRS

Court cases against the IRS are always "David versus Goliath" battles. The IRS takes the most extreme positions, and will not compromise even one punctuation mark during the cases.  It is a fight for every dollar.

And we win.

On August 12, 2013, Judge Hollander issued her memorandum order affirming our clients position. In Maryland, an unrecorded or late recorded deed of trust will have priority over a recorded IRS lien.


Congress has a law that incorporates and applies Maryland state law to these disputes. But the IRS created its own internal regulation, hoping to gut the Congressional statute. The IRS internal regulation says that Maryland state law, with it's "relation back" principle of recording, does not apply in disputes with IRS liens.

Judge Hollander disagreed.

Congress was clear- Maryland state law will apply to these disputes. The IRS cannot change a law passed by Congress that is not ambiguous.

The next case may well turn out different. But for today, we sip a fresh cup of coffee and share in our client's good fortunes.