Fior D'italia, Inc., Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Appellee v. United States of America, Defendant-Counter Claimant-Appellant

The issue in this case is the authority of the Internal Revenue Service to use the aggregate method of assessment for the employer’s share of Social Security taxes on unreported tip income. The separate issue of the accuracy of the assessment is not before us and the two concepts-authority and accuracy-should neither be confused nor mixed and matched. In affirming the district court’s rejection of the aggregate approach, the majority creates a circuit split on a tax issue of national importance. Unlike Quidditch or Fizzing Whizbees, there is nothing magical about the IRS’s assessment-the…