§7441 — Status
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Statute Text — 26 U.S.C. §7441
There is hereby established, under article I of the Constitution of the United States, a court of record to be known as the United States Tax Court. The members of the Tax Court shall be the chief judge and the judges of the Tax Court. The Tax Court is not an agency of, and shall be independent of, the executive branch of the Government.
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Analysis Petitioner has had a long and distinguished career in the military, and we respect and honor his faithful service and sacrifice for his country. At the same time we are a court established under Article I ofthe U.S. Constitution, sec. 7441, and ourjurisdiction is limited to that expressly conferred upon us by the Code, sec.
487, 730 (codified as amended at § 7441).7 Congress intentionally designed the Tax Court, like its predecessors the BTA and the TCUS, to be the exclusive forum for pre-payment review of 7 As amended in 2015, section 7441 adds: “The Tax Court is not an agency of, and shall be independent of, the executive branch of the Government.” 11 deficiencies.
ks, Ltd. v. Commissioner, 91 T.C. 322 (1988). At that time the Supreme Court of Montana allowed any “United States court” to certify a question. Id. at 328 n.5 (quoting Mont. R. App. P. 44). - 6 - [*6] under the “Constitution of the United States.” Sec. 7441. Tax Court judges, like Federal District Court judges, are appointed by the President and are confirmed by the Senate. Sec. 7443(b); see 28 U.S.C. sec. 133 (2018). And Tax Court decisions, like Federal District Court decisions, are appealabl
l.) 166, 187 (1867) (citing Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 37 U.S. (12 Pet.) 657, 718 (1838)); accord Peacock v. Thomas, 516 U.S. 349, 356 (1996). Recognizing this universal rule, when Congress established this Court as "a court ofrecord" in 1969, sec. 7441; see also Freytag v. Commissioner, 501 U.S. 868, 888-892 (1991) (observing that this Court exercises a portion ofthejudicial power ofthe United States), Congress made clear that the Court "shall have such assistance in the carrying out ofits
ges "after notice and opportunity for public hearing, for inefficiency, neglect ofduty, or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause." In the Tax Reform Act of 1969 (1969 Act), Pub. L. No. 91-172, sec. 951, 83 Stat. at 730, Congress deleted from I.R.C. sec. 7441 the designation ofthe Tax Court as an independent agency within the executive branch. In 1971 we said that under the 1969 Act the Tax Court is no longer within the executive branch. Burns, Stix Friedman & Co. v. Commissioner, 57 T.C.
There, through its enactment of section 7441, Congress "hereby established, under article I of the Constitution of the United States, a court of record to be known as the United States Tax Court." The predecessors to this Court were not courts of law, and they did not possess the judicial powers of a District Court.
It has jurisdiction to determine the correct amount of a deficiency. Sec. 6214. The constitutionality of the Tax Court repeatedly has been upheld on the basis of congressional authority to create specialized courts under Article I of the Constitution. Freytag v. Commissioner, 501 U.S. 868, 890-891 (1991); Rowlee v. Commissioner, 80 T.C.
7441; Freytag v. Commissioner, 501 U.S. 168, 887 (1991) (Congress enacted legislation in 1969 with the express purpose of making the Tax Court an Article I court rather than an executive agency). Thus, the Tax Court exercises judicial, rather than executive, legislative, or administrative, power. See Freytag v. Commissioner, supra at 890-891.