Prof. Kristin Hickman Quoted in Bloomberg Tax About Corner Post Ruling and its Ramifications

Professor Kristin Hickman was quoted in Bloomberg Tax about the recent Corner Post ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the default limitations period for Administrative Procedure Act (APA) challenges runs from when a particular plaintiff is injured by the agency action. Before the decision, taxpayers had six years from the time a rule was issued to challenge it for violating the APA. Prof. Hickman said IRS regulations especially benefited from the limitation, because affected taxpayers couldn’t challenge them in the courts until they received an IRS claim that they could appeal. “In the tax context, it’s particularly important because we don’t have pre-enforcement review, virtually at all.” At other agencies, plaintiffs only have to establish standing to raise an APA challenge to an agency regulation, but tax rules typically can’t be challenged until after they are enforced on a taxpayer and that taxpayer files a claim for a refund. “It’s a big deal,” Hickman said. “I actually think Corner Post is a bigger deal for tax rules and regulations than Loper Bright.”