Kathryn Rothkamm v. USA

Kathryn Rothkamm claims that the IRS wrongfully levied a certificate of deposit issued solely in her name to satisfy tax liabilities of her husband. The Internal Revenue Code provides two different avenues to challenge a wrongful levy: (1) an administrative appeal; or (2) a lawsuit in federal court. By either avenue, the aggrieved party must act within nine months of the levy.1 Rothkamm did not do so. I dissent from the majority’s newly minted tolling rule. While this creativity is driven by a desire to achieve fairness, it suffers *715the vice common to such endeavors — it does the opposite by…