We have now written on several occasions to report Tax Court opinions permitting taxpayers to withdraw from a case. Most recently, I wrote a post on the ability to withdraw from a declaratory judgement case. Each time the Tax Court issues an opinion on this issue for the first time in another one of its jurisdictional bases, it issues a precedential opinion. On August 14, 2023, the Tax Court issued the most recent opinion in this series of cases, Pugh v. Commissioner, 161 T.C. No. 2. In Pugh the Court holds that a petitioner who no longer wants to pursue her passport revocation case can seek dismissal of the case.
As discussed in prior posts, the Tax Court does not allow a petitioner to seek dismissal of a deficiency case. In a deficiency case the Court dismissal results in assessment of the amount stated in the notice of deficiency (absent a concession by the IRS of a lesser amount), but in some fashion the deficiency case will end with the ability of the IRS to assess additional taxes or a determination that the petitioner does not owe the proposed deficiency. There is no dismissal that amounts to a withdrawal of the petition in a deficiency case. The Pugh case continues the Court’s view that non-deficiency cases may end without resolution of the matter that brought the case into the Tax Court.