James M. McGaffin Iii, and Deborah McGaffin v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Chief Judge.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, ministers and other members of the clergy can receive an exemption from self-employment tax if they are conscientiously opposed to the tax and if they file a request for the exemption, called a Form 4361, by a certain specified time. The question presented in this case is whether the taxpayers, the Reverend and Mrs. James McGaffin, III, appellants in this Court, made a timely filing of their Form 4361. The Tax Court 1 found against them, and they appeal.

We affirm. The question whether the form was filed on time is a question of…