Lynne A. Price v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Whether 26 U.S.C. § 7430 allows a prevailing taxpayer to recover “reasonable fees paid or incurred” for an attorney’s services when the taxpayer actually paid those fees by personal check to her spouse - attorney’s professional corporation (John S. Winkler, P.A.) after the IRS conceded the case, or whether courts may categorically deny recovery under a “same-household economic-realities” test that is not in the statute’s text and which treats the payment as intra-family self-representation.

Whether the decision below conflicts with the plain language of § 7430, its legislative purpose to reimburse actual litigation costs and deter unjustified IRS positions, and analogous fee-shifting precedents that permit recovery when payment is made to a separate professional entity.

Whether the “paid or incurred” limitation in § 7430 is satisfied by a bona fide invoice and check payment to a spouse-attorney’s professional association (a distinct legal entity), or whether lower courts may disregard the plain text and legislative purpose of the statute by applying tax-substance doctrines (e.g., Frank Lyon Co.) to bar recovery in spousal-representation cases.