Dealing another major setback to the IRS in the ongoing litigation over how it handled a massive $8 billion refund for a now-abandoned telephone excise tax, a federal judge in Harrisburg, Pa., has refused to dismiss a nationwide class action suit that says the agency’s public notices about the availability of the refund violated due process.
The ruling in Swisher v. United States by U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III of the Middle District of Pennsylvania comes on the heels of a scathing decision in August from a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., that revived a batch of similar suits alleging that the IRS’ handling of the refund program violated the Administrative Procedures Act.
