Case Law Update: Estate Tax Extension

Regulation restricting IRS from granting second extension to file an estate tax return without good cause deemed valid. 

The decedent paid estate taxes in 2003 and filed an estate tax return in 2004. The decedent did not file a refund request until 2007. The IRS stated the refund sought was outside the look-back period and denied the claim. In 2009, the executor of  the decedent’s estate filed suit, seeking a refund of the federal estate taxes he claimed were erroneously paid.

The appellate court faced the question of whether the IRS erred in concluding that §6511(b)(2)(A) barred the decedent’s requested refund because the decedent was not entitled to a second extension of the filing deadline that determined the estate’s eligibility for the refund. The court in Dickow v. United States, No. 10–2151, 2011 WL 3632933 (1^st Cir. 2011), held that Treas. Reg. § 20.6081-1 made it clear that only one without cause extension is allowed.

Special thanks to William P. LaPiana (Rita and Joseph Solomon Professor of Wills, Trusts,and Estates, New York Law School) for sending me this case law update.