Supreme Court 2020s: on Tax Reform

Amy Coney Barrett: A faithful adherence to the Internal Revenue Code

VHC Inc. v. Commissioner was an appeal from a 2017 IRS' disallowance of $92 million in bad-debt deductions claimed by a Wisconsin holding company for loans made to the founder's son. The Tax Court agreed with the IRS and found that the debt at issue was not bona fide and therefore didn't meet the statutory requirements in the code. Barrett affirmed the Tax Court's ruling, agreeing with the lower court that the transactions between the company and Van Den Heuvel didn't amount to a true creditor-debtor relationship, making them ineligible for the deduction under Internal Revenue Code Section 166.

In the "A.F. Moore & Associates Inc. v. Pappas" case, Judge Barrett found a group of Cook County, Illinois, landowners were allowed to proceed in federal court to challenge their property tax assessments since they had no avenue to dispute them at a state level.