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Jim Gadwood Comments on Anti-Injunction Act Applicability in Tax Notes Today

Subtitle
"Inversion Suit Could Be Vehicle to Flesh Out Direct Marketing"

Tax Notes Today

Jim Gadwood commented on the varied interpretations of the applicability of the Anti-Injunction Act (AIA) following the government's appellate brief filed in the Fifth Circuit in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. IRS. The brief addresses the distinction between the AIA and the Taxpayer Injunction Act (TIA), and argues that the district court misinterpreted the non-application of the AIA and misapplied Supreme Court precedent in Direct Marketing Ass'n v. Brohl. Determining the scope of "restraining" assessment and collection under the AIA was a key point of contention, Gadwood said, adding that he was also struck by the distinction drawn by the district court regarding the anti-inversion rule, which the court held was "not a tax, but a regulation determining who is subject to taxation." "When I see this distinction, it makes me want to try and start putting code sections on either side," Gadwood said. "But you have this whole swath of stuff that is in the middle, like everything that determines deductions or credits ... what side of the line does that fall on?"