Litigants: | Flora v. United States, 357 U.S. 63 (1958) |
Arguedate: | May 20 |
Argueyear: | 1958 |
Decidedate: | June 16 |
Decideyear: | 1958 |
Fullname: | Flora v. United States |
Usvol: | 357 |
Uspage: | 63 |
Parallelcitations: | 78 S. Ct. 1079; 2 L. Ed. 2d 1165; 1958 U.S. LEXIS 1806 |
Prior: | Cert. to the 10th Circuit, 246 F.2d 929 (10th Cir. 1957) |
Subsequent: | Affirmed on rehearing, |
Holding: | A taxpayer must pay the full amount of an income tax deficiency assessed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue before he may challenge its correctness by a suit in a federal district court for refund under 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(1). |
Majority: | Warren |
Joinmajority: | unanimous |
Flora v. United States, 357 U.S. 63 (1958), affirmed on rehearing, 362 U.S. 145 (1960), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that a taxpayer generally must pay the full amount of an income tax deficiency assessed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue before he may challenge its correctness by a suit in a federal district court for refund under 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(1).[1] The Supreme Court agreed with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, stating that the full payment rule requires the entire amount of an asserted deficiency to be paid before a refund suit may be maintained.
If the taxpayer chooses to pay less than the deficiency asserted, the taxpayer's only remedies are (A) a deficiency proceeding in the Tax Court[2] or, (B) in a bankruptcy case, a determination under section 505(a) of the US Bankruptcy Code.[3] That rule can be a problem for a taxpayer who lets the 90-day period (following the issuance of a statutory notice of deficiency, during which he may file a Tax Court petition) expire and then cannot fully pay because of insufficient assets.