Hinck v. United States

(Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2006 1

Syllabus

NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is
being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued.
The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been
prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader.
See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

Syllabus

HINCK ET UX. v. UNITED STATES

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR
THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT

No. 06–376. Argued April 23, 2007—Decided May 21, 2007
A 1986 amendment to the Internal Revenue Code permits the Treasury
Secretary to abate interest that accrues on unpaid federal income
taxes if the interest assessment is attributable to Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) error or delay. 26 U. S. C. §6404(e)(1). Subsequently,
the federal courts uniformly held that the Secretary’s decision not to
abate was not subject to judicial review. In 1996, Congress added
what is now §6404(h), which states that the Tax Court has “jurisdic
tion over any action brought by a taxpayer who meets the require
ments referred to in section 7430(c)(4)(A)(ii) to determine whether
the Secretary’s failure to abate . . . was an abuse of discretion, and
may order an abatement, if such action is brought within 180 days
after the date of the mailing of the Secretary’s final determination
not to abate . . . .” §6404(h)(1). Section 7430(c)(4)(A)(ii) in turn in
corporates 28 U. S. C. §2412(d)(2)(B), which refers to individuals with
a net worth not exceeding $2 million and businesses with a net worth
not exceeding $7 million. The IRS denied petitioner Hincks’ request
for abatement of interest assessed in 1999 for the period March 21,
1989, to April 1, 1993. The Hincks then filed suit in the Court of
Federal Claims seeking review of the refusal to abate. The court
granted the Government’s motion to dismiss, and the Federal Circuit
affirmed, holding that §6404(h) vests exclusive jurisdiction to review
interest abatement claims in the Tax Court.
Held: The Tax Court provides the exclusive forum for judicial review of
a failure to abate interest under §6404(e)(1). This Court’s analysis is
governed by the well-established principle that, in most contexts, “ ‘a
precisely drawn, detailed statute pre-empts more general remedies,’ ”
EC Term of Years Trust v. United States, 550 U. S. ___, ___; it is also
guided by the recognition that when Congress enacts a specific rem
2 HINCK v. UNITED STATES

Syllabus

edy when none was previously recognized, or when previous remedies
were “problematic,” the remedy provided is generally regarded as ex
clusive, Block v. North Dakota ex rel. Board of Univ. and School
Lands, 461 U. S. 273, 285. Section 6404(h) fits the bill on both
counts. In a single sentence, it provides a forum for adjudication, a
limited class of potential plaintiffs, a statute of limitations, a stan
dard of review, and authorization for judicial relief; it was also en
acted against a backdrop of decisions uniformly rejecting the possibil
ity of any review of the Secretary’s §6404(e)(1) determinations.
Though Congress failed explicitly to define the Tax Court’s jurisdic
tion as exclusive, it is quite plain that the terms of §6404(h)—a “pre
cisely drawn, detailed statute” filling a perceived hole in the law—
control all requests for review of §6404(e)(1) decisions, including the
forum for adjudication. The Hincks correctly argue that Congress’s
provision of an abuse of discretion standard removed one of the ob
stacles courts had held foreclosed judicial review of such determina
tions, but Congress did not simply supply this single missing ingredi
ent in enacting §6404(h). Rather, it set out a carefully circumscribed,
time-limited, plaintiff-specific provision, which also precisely defined
the appropriate forum. This Court will not isolate one feature of this
statute and use it to permit taxpayers to circumvent the other limit
ing features in the same statute, such as a shorter statute of limita
tions than in general refund suits or a net-worth ceiling for plaintiffs
eligible to bring suit. Taxpayers could “effortlessly evade” these spe
cific limitations by bringing interest abatement claims as tax refund
actions in the district courts or the Court of Federal Claims, disag
gregating a statute Congress plainly envisioned as a package deal.
EC Term of Years Trust, supra, at ___. Equally unavailing are the
Hincks’ contentions that reading §6404(h) to vest exclusive jurisdic
tion in the Tax Court impliedly repeals the pre-existing jurisdiction of
the district courts and Court of Federal Claims, runs contrary to the
structure of tax controversy jurisdiction, and would lead to the “un
reasonable” result that taxpayers with net worths exceeding the
specified ceilings would be foreclosed from seeking judicial review of
§6404(e)(1) refusals to abate. Pp. 6–9.
446 F. 3d 1307, affirmed.

ROBERTS, C. J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
 Cite as: 550 U. S. ____ (2007) 1

Opinion of the Court

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in
the preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested
to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States,
Washington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in
order that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to
press.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
_________________

No. 06–376
_________________

JOHN F. HINCK, ET UX., PETITIONERS v.

UNITED STATES

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF

APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT

[May 21, 2007]

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the
Court.
Bad things happen if you fail to pay federal income
taxes when due. One of them is that interest accrues on
the unpaid amount. Sometimes it takes a while for the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to determine that taxes
should have been paid that were not. Section 6404(e)(1) of
the Internal Revenue Code permits the Secretary of the
Treasury to abate interest—to forgive it, partially or in
whole—if the assessment of interest on a deficiency is
attributable to unreasonable error or delay on the part of
the IRS. Section 6404(h) allows for judicial review of the
Secretary’s decision not to grant such relief. The question
presented in this case is whether this review may be
obtained only in the Tax Court, or may also be secured in
the district courts and the Court of Federal Claims. We
hold that the Tax Court provides the exclusive forum for
judicial review of a refusal to abate interest under
§6404(e)(1), and affirm.
2 HINCK v. UNITED STATES

Opinion of the Court

I

The Internal Revenue Code provides that if any amount
of assessed federal income tax is not paid “on or before the
last date prescribed for payment,” interest “shall be paid
for the period from such last date to the date paid.” 26
U. S. C. §6601(a). Section 6404 of the Code authorizes the
Secretary of the Treasury to abate any tax or related
liability in certain circumstances. As part of the Tax
Reform Act of 1986, Congress amended §6404 to add
subsection (e)(1), which, as enacted, provided in pertinent
part:
“In the case of any assessment of interest on . . . any
deficiency attributable in whole or in part to any error
or delay by an officer or employee of the Internal
Revenue Service (acting in his official capacity) in per
forming a ministerial act . . . the Secretary may abate
the assessment of all or any part of such interest for
any period.” 26 U. S. C. §6404(e)(1) (1994 ed.).
In the years following passage of §6404(e)(1), the federal
courts uniformly held that the Secretary’s decision not to
grant an abatement was not subject to judicial review.
See, e.g., Argabright v. United States, 35 F. 3d 472, 476
(CA9 1994); Selman v. United States, 941 F. 2d 1060, 1064
(CA10 1991); Horton Homes, Inc. v. United States, 936
F. 2d 548, 554 (CA11 1991); see also Bax v. Commissioner,
13 F. 3d 54, 58 (CA2 1993). These decisions recognized
that §6404(e)(1) gave the Secretary complete discretion to
determine whether to abate interest, “neither indicat[ing]
that such authority should be used universally nor
provid[ing] any basis for distinguishing between the in
stances in which abatement should and should not be
granted.” Selman, supra, at 1063. Any decision by the
Secretary was accordingly “committed to agency discretion
by law” under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5
U. S. C. §701(a)(2), and thereby insulated from judicial
 Cite as: 550 U. S. ____ (2007) 3

Opinion of the Court

review. See, e.g., Webster v. Doe, 486 U. S. 592, 599
(1988); Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U. S. 821, 830 (1985).
In 1996, as part of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2, Con
gress again amended §6404, adding what is now subsec
tion (h). As relevant, that provision states:
“Review of denial of request for abatement of inter
est.—
“(1) In general.—The Tax Court shall have jurisdic
tion over any action brought by a taxpayer who meets
the requirements referred to in section
7430(c)(4)(A)(ii) to determine whether the Secretary’s
failure to abate interest under this section was an
abuse of discretion, and may order an abatement, if
such action is brought within 180 days after the date
of the mailing of the Secretary’s final determination
not to abate such interest.” 26 U. S. C. §6404(h)(1)
(2000 ed., Supp. IV).
Section 7430(c)(4)(A)(ii) in turn incorporates 28 U. S. C.
§2412(d)(2)(B), which refers to individuals with a net
worth not exceeding $2 million and businesses with a net
worth not exceeding $7 million. Congress made subsection
(h) effective for all requests for abatement submitted to
the IRS after July 30, 1996, regardless of the tax year
involved. §302(b), 110 Stat. 1458.1
II
In 1986, petitioner John Hinck was a limited partner in
an entity called Agri-Cal Venture Associates (ACVA).
Along with his wife, petitioner Pamela Hinck, Hinck filed

——————
1 The Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2 also modified 26 U. S. C.
§6404(e)(1)(A) to add the word “unreasonable” before the words “error
or delay” and to change “ministerial act” to “ministerial or managerial
act.” §301(a), 110 Stat. 1457. These changes, however, only apply to
interest accruing on deficiencies for tax years beginning after July 30,
1996, see §301(c), ibid., and thus are not implicated in this case.
4 HINCK v. UNITED STATES

Opinion of the Court

a joint return for 1986 reporting his share of losses from
the partnership. The IRS later examined the tax returns
for ACVA and proposed adjustments to deductions that
the partnership had claimed for 1984, 1985, and 1986. In
1990, the IRS issued a final notice regarding the partner
ship’s returns, disallowing tens of millions of dollars of
deductions. While the partnership sought administrative
review of this decision, the Hincks, in May 1996, made an
advance remittance of $93,890 to the IRS toward any
personal deficiency that might result from a final adjust
ment of ACVA’s returns. In March 1999, the Hincks
reached a settlement with the IRS concerning the ACVA
partnership adjustments, to the extent they affected the
Hincks’ return. Shortly thereafter, as a result of the
adjustments, the IRS imposed additional liability against
the Hincks: $16,409 in tax and $21,669.22 in interest. The
IRS applied the Hincks’ advance remittance to this
amount and refunded them the balance of $55,811.78.
The Hincks filed a claim with the IRS contending that,
because of IRS errors and delays, the interest assessed
against them for the period from March 21, 1989, to April
1, 1993, should be abated under §6404(e)(1). The IRS
denied the request. The Hincks then filed suit in the
United States Court of Federal Claims seeking review of
the refusal to abate. That court granted the Government’s
motion to dismiss, 64 Fed. Cl. 71, 81 (2005), and the
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
affirmed, 446 F. 3d 1307, 1313–1314 (2006), holding that
§6404(h) vests exclusive jurisdiction to review interest
abatement claims under §6404(e)(1) in the Tax Court.
Because this decision conflicted with the Fifth Circuit’s
decision in Beall v. United States, 336 F. 3d 419, 430
(2003) (holding that §6404(h) grants concurrent rather
than exclusive jurisdiction to the Tax Court), we granted
certiorari, 549 U. S. ___ (2007).
 Cite as: 550 U. S. ____ (2007) 5

Opinion of the Court

III
Our analysis is governed by the well-established princi
ple that, in most contexts, “ ‘a precisely drawn, detailed
statute pre-empts more general remedies.’ ” EC Term of
Years Trust v. United States, 550 U. S. ___, ___ (2007) (slip
op., at 4) (quoting Brown v. GSA, 425 U. S. 820, 834
(1976)); see also Block v. North Dakota ex rel. Board of
Univ. and School Lands, 461 U. S. 273, 284–286 (1983).
We are also guided by our past recognition that when
Congress enacts a specific remedy when no remedy was
previously recognized, or when previous remedies were
“problematic,” the remedy provided is generally regarded
as exclusive. Id., at 285; Brown, supra, at 826–829.
Section 6404(h) fits the bill on both counts. It is a “pre
cisely drawn, detailed statute” that, in a single sentence,
provides a forum for adjudication, a limited class of poten
tial plaintiffs, a statute of limitations, a standard of re
view, and authorization for judicial relief. And Congress
enacted this provision against a backdrop of decisions
uniformly rejecting the possibility of any review for tax
payers wishing to challenge the Secretary’s §6404(e)(1)
determination. Therefore, despite Congress’s failure
explicitly to define the Tax Court’s jurisdiction as exclu
sive, we think it quite plain that the terms of §6404(h)—a
“precisely drawn, detailed statute” filling a perceived hole
in the law—control all requests for review of §6404(e)(1)
determinations. Those terms include the forum for
adjudication.
The Hincks’ primary argument against exclusive Tax
Court jurisdiction is that by providing a standard of re
view—abuse of discretion—in §6404(h), Congress elimi
nated the primary barrier to judicial review that courts
had previously recognized; accordingly, they maintain,
taxpayers may seek review of §6404(e)(1) determinations
under statutes granting jurisdiction to the district courts
and the Court of Federal Claims to review tax refund
6 HINCK v. UNITED STATES

Opinion of the Court

actions. See 28 U. S. C. §§1346(a)(1), 1491(a)(1); 26
U. S. C. §7422(a). Or, as the Fifth Circuit reasoned: “[T]he
federal district courts have always possessed jurisdiction
over challenges brought to section 6404(e)(1) denials[;]
they simply determined that the taxpayers had no sub
stantive right whatever to a favorable exercise of the Sec
retary’s discretion . . . . [I]n enacting section 6404(h),
Congress indicated that such is no longer the case, and
thereby removed any impediment to district court review.”
Beall, supra, at 428 (emphasis in original).
It is true that by providing an abuse of discretion stan
dard, Congress removed one of the obstacles courts had
held foreclosed judicial review of §6404(e)(1) determina
tions. See, e.g., Argabright, 35 F. 3d, at 476 (noting an
absence of “ ‘judicially manageable standards’ ” (quoting
Heckler, 470 U. S., at 830)). But in enacting §6404(h),
Congress did not simply supply this single missing ingre
dient; rather, it set out a carefully circumscribed, time-
limited, plaintiff-specific provision, which also precisely
defined the appropriate forum. We cannot accept the
Hincks’ invitation to isolate one feature of this “precisely
drawn, detailed statute”—the portion specifying a stan
dard of review—and use it to permit taxpayers to circum
vent the other limiting features Congress placed in the
same statute—restrictions such as a shorter statute of
limitations than general refund suits, compare §6404(h)
(180-day limitations period) with §6532(a)(1) (2-year limi
tations period), or a net-worth ceiling for plaintiffs eligible
to bring suit. Taxpayers could “effortlessly evade” these
specific limitations by bringing interest abatement claims
as tax refund actions in the district courts or the Court of
Federal Claims, disaggregating a statute Congress plainly
envisioned as a package deal. EC Term of Years Trust,
supra, at ___ (slip op., at 5); see also Block, supra, at 284–
285; Brown, supra, 425 U. S., at 832–833.
The Hincks’ other contentions are equally unavailing.
 Cite as: 550 U. S. ____ (2007) 7

Opinion of the Court

First, they claim that reading §6404(h) to vest exclusive
jurisdiction in the Tax Court impliedly repeals the pre
existing jurisdiction of the district courts and Court of
Federal Claims, despite our admonition that “repeals by
implication are not favored.” Morton v. Mancari, 417 U. S.
535, 549 (1974) (internal quotation marks omitted). But
the implied-repeal doctrine is not applicable here, for
when Congress passed §6404(h), §6404(e)(1) had been
interpreted not to provide any right of review for taxpay
ers. There is thus no indication of any “language on the
statute books that [Congress] wishe[d] to change,” United
States v. Fausto, 484 U. S. 439, 453 (1988), implicitly or
explicitly. Congress simply prescribed a limited form of
review where none had previously been found to exist.
Second, the Hincks assert that vesting jurisdiction over
§6404(e)(1) abatement decisions exclusively in the Tax
Court runs contrary to the “entire structure of tax contro
versy jurisdiction,” Brief for Petitioners 30, under which
the Tax Court generally hears prepayment challenges to
tax liability, see §6213(a), while postpayment actions are
brought in the district courts or Court of Federal Claims.
In a related vein, the Hincks point out that the Govern
ment’s position would force taxpayers seeking postpay
ment review of their tax liabilities to separate their
§6404(e)(1) abatement claims from their refund claims and
bring each in a different court. Even assuming, arguendo,
that we were inclined to depart from the face of the stat
ute, these arguments are undercut on two fronts. To begin
with, by expressly granting to the Tax Court some juris
diction over §6404(e)(1) decisions, Congress has already
broken with the general scheme the Hincks identify. No
one doubts that an action seeking review of a §6404(e)(1)
determination may be maintained in the Tax Court even if
the interest has already been paid, see, e.g., Dadian v.
Commissioner, 87 TCM 1344 (2004), ¶2004–121 RIA
Memo TC, p. 790–2004; Miller v. Commissioner, 79 TCM
8 HINCK v. UNITED STATES

Opinion of the Court

2213 (2000), ¶2000–195 RIA Memo TC, p. 1120–2000,
aff’d, 310 F. 3d 640 (CA9 2002), and the Hincks point to no
case where the Tax Court has refused to exercise jurisdic
tion under such circumstances.
In addition, an interest abatement claim under
§6404(e)(1) involves no questions of substantive tax law,
but rather is premised on issues of bureaucratic admini
stration (whether, for example, there was “error or delay”
in the performance of a “ministerial” act, §6404(e)(1)(A)).
Judicial review of decisions not to abate requires an
evaluation of the internal processes of the IRS, not the
underlying tax liability of the taxpayer. We find nothing
tellingly awkward about channeling such discrete and
specialized questions of administrative operations to one
particular court, even if in some respects it “may not
appear to be efficient” as a policy matter to separate re
fund and interest abatement claims. 446 F. 3d, at 1316.2
Last, the Hincks contend that Congress would not have
intended to vest jurisdiction exclusively in the Tax Court
because it would lead to the “unreasonable” result that
taxpayers with net worths greater than $2 million (for
individuals) or $7 million (for businesses) would be fore
closed from seeking judicial review of §6404(e)(1) refusals
to abate. Brief for Petitioners 46; see also Beall, 336 F. 3d,
at 430. But we agree with the Federal Circuit that this
outcome “was contemplated by Congress.” 446 F. 3d, at
1316. The net-worth limitation in §6404(h) reflects Con
gress’s judgment that wealthier taxpayers are more likely
to be able to pay a deficiency before contesting it, thereby
avoiding accrual of interest during their administrative
and legal challenges. In contrast, taxpayers with com
paratively fewer resources are more likely to contest their
——————
2 We note that the Hincks sought only interest abatement in the

Court of Federal Claims, thus failing to implicate the “claim-splitting”
and efficiency concerns they condemn. See Brief for Petitioners 49.
 Cite as: 550 U. S. ____ (2007) 9

Opinion of the Court

assessed deficiency before first paying it, thus exposing
themselves to interest charges if their challenge is ulti
mately unsuccessful. There is nothing “unreasonable”
about Congress’s decision to grant the possibility of judi
cial relief only to those taxpayers most likely to be in need
of it.3
The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit is affirmed.
It is so ordered.

——————
3 The Hincks also argue that the net-worth limitations on §6404(h)

review violate the due process rights of those taxpayers who exceed
them. The court below did not pass upon this constitutional challenge,
nor do we, for as the Hincks concede, the record contains no findings
concerning their own net worth, Brief for Petitioners 44, and they offer
no reasons to deviate from our general rule that a party “must assert
his own legal rights and interests, and cannot rest his claim to relief on
the legal rights or interests of third parties,” Kowalski v. Tesmer, 543
U. S. 125, 129 (2004) (quoting Warth v. Seldin, 422 U. S. 490, 499
(1975); internal quotation marks omitted).