IRS Publication 17 — Your Federal Income Tax (Individuals)

If you do not agree with the examiner’s proposed changes, you can appeal them to the IRS Independent Office of Appeals. Most differences can be settled without expensive and time -consuming court trials. Your appeal rights are explained in detail in both Pub. 5, Your Appeal Rights and How to Prepare a Protest if You Don’t Agree; and Pub. 556.

If you do not wish to use the IRS Independent Office of Appeals or disagree with its findings, you may be able to take your case to the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, or the U.S. District Court where you live. If you take your case to court, the IRS will have the burden of proving certain facts if you kept adequate records to show your tax liability, cooperated with the IRS, and meet certain other conditions. If the court agrees with you on most issues in your case and finds that our position was largely unjustified, you may be able to recover some of your administrative and litigation costs. You will not be eligible to recover these costs unless you tried to resolve your case administratively, including going through the appeals system, and you gave us the information necessary to resolve the case.