• Home
• Federal Income Taxes
• State Tax Laws
• Estate Planning
• Publications
• Professional Research
  • Master Index
  • Case Law
  • Revenue Rulings
  • Private Letter Rulings
  • Regulations
  • Internal Revenue Code
  • Public Laws
  • Research Process
• Tax Workshops/Education
• Tax Policy
• Links

U.S. Court of Federal Claims

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims is a national court located in Washington D.C. and is responsible for hearing all cases concerning monetary claims against the federal government including tax refunds. Thus, as in the federal District Courts the taxpayer must pay the disputed tax and sue the government, after the appropriate waiting period, for a refund in order for the case to be heard in the Court of Federal Claims. Sixteen judges are appointed to the Court of Federal Claims and like the District Courts are not tax specialists. Similar to the U.S. Tax Court the judges travel to major cities of the country and hear cases. The Court of Federal Claims does not allow jury trials on any matter.

Since the Court of Federal Claims is a national court that must follow the decisions only of the Federal District of the Court of Appeals, it is not bound by the geographical circuit courts of appeal that have ruled on similar cases, nor by the court of appeal for the circuit in which the taxpayer works or resides.

Locating and Understanding Court of Federal Claims Citations

Before October of 1982 all U.S. Court of Claims decisions were published in the "Federal Reporter," 2d Series, produced by West Publishing. Citations to this reporter used the abbreviation "F.2d." Relative to decisions of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, you should refer to the primary citation for West's "U.S. Claims Court Reporter" which is cited with the abbreviation "ClCt." In addition, any tax decisions of both the old U.S. Court of Claims and the existing U.S. Court of Federal Claims are reproduced in CCH's "United States Tax Cases," (abbreviated USTC) and in RIA's "American Federal Tax Reports," Second Series (abbreviated AFTR2d).

U.S. Court of Claims citation:

Ward v. U.S., 428 F.2d 1288, 192 Ct. Cl. 710, 70-2 USTC ¶9518, 26 AFTR2d 70-5138, where
Ward is the name of the case
428 is the volume of the Federal Reporter (F.2d)
1288 is the page number of the volume
192 is the volume of the U.S. Court of Claims Reports (Ct. Cl)
710 is the page number in the volume
70-2 is the volume number of CCH's U.S. Tax Cases
¶9518 is the paragraph number in the volume
26 is the volume number of the American Federal Tax Reporter, second series (AFTR2d)
70-5138 is the year the opinion was issued and the page number on which the case begins

The same citation for Ward v. U.S. could also be written with the reference to the U.S. Court of Claims at the end with the year in which the opinion was issued, such as:

Ward v. U.S. 428 F.2d 1288, 70-2 USTC ¶9518, 26 AFTR2d 70-5138 (Ct. Cl. 1970)