Case: 23-1640 Document: 43 Page: 1 Filed: 10/04/2024

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________ VENSURE HR, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant v. UNITED STATES, Defendant-Appellee ______________________ 2023-1640 ______________________ Appeal from the United States Court of Federal Claims in No. 1:20-cv-00728-PEC, Judge Patricia E. Campbell- Smith. ______________________ Decided: October 4, 2024 ______________________ RIC HULSHOFF, Ric Hulshoff Attorney at Law, PLLC, Henderson, NV, argued for plaintiff-appellant. Also repre- sented by JASON M. SILVER, Silver Law, PLC, Scottsdale, AZ.

ISAAC B. ROSENBERG, Tax Division, United States De- partment of Justice, Washington, DC, argued for defend- ant-appellee. Also represented by BRUCE R. ELLISEN, DAVID A. HUBBERT. ______________________ Before PROST, CLEVENGER, and CHEN, Circuit Judges.

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PROST, Circuit Judge.

Vensure HR, Inc. (“Vensure”) appeals the final judg- ment of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissing Ven- sure’s complaint for failing to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Vensure HR, Inc. v. United States, 164 Fed. Cl. 276 (2023) (“Decision”).

This case involves the procedural mechanisms for filing a tax refund for penalties under the Internal Revenue Code. Vensure filed certain tax-penalty-refund claims, which the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) denied on their merits. Then, when Vensure filed a complaint in the Court of Federal Claims, the IRS sought to dismiss the complaint based on a procedural flaw with Vensure’s claims—namely, that Vensure had failed to “attach” a power of attorney to those claims. Despite having already filed two powers of attorney that potentially covered these tax claims, the Court of Federal Claims dismissed Vensure’s case on the sole basis that a power of attorney was not “attached” to the claims at the time of filing. The question before us is whether the regulation that requires a power of attorney to “accompany” a claim is an explicit statutory requirement, which cannot be waived, or is purely regulatory in nature and thus waivable. We conclude that 26 C.F.R. § 301.6402-2(e)’s requirement that “a power of attorney must accompany the claim” is regulatory and not statutory.

Therefore, this requirement may be waived by the IRS in certain circumstances. In other words, while the IRS may demand strict compliance with its regulations, when it fails to do so, and instead addresses a claim on its merits, the requirement may be waived. For the reasons below, we va- cate and remand for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND I Vensure is a professional-employer organization that provides other companies with services to outsource Case: 23-1640 Document: 43 Page: 3 Filed: 10/04/2024

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employee-management tasks, including payroll and tax re- porting services. As part of the tax reporting services, Ven- sure withholds, reports, and pays employment-related taxes on behalf of companies to the IRS.

In the second quarter of 2014, Vensure reported and paid employment taxes. Believing those payments to be an overpayment of more than $3.7 million, Vensure filed tax refund claims with the IRS in October 2014 and June 2015.1 App’x 61.2 Vensure alleges that these overpay- ments “led to Vensure’s inability to timely pay” taxes for later periods. App’x 62. As a result of the belated pay- ments, the IRS assessed tax penalties amounting to more than $1.5 million. App’x 47.

Vensure fully paid the belated tax payments and pen- alties but sought a refund or abatement of the tax penalties through the filing of six IRS Forms 843 in March 2016.

App’x 34–39 (collectively, the “penalty-refund claims”).

When a Form 843 is filed by a corporation, like Vensure, the form must generally be signed by “a corporate officer authorized to sign.” E.g., App’x 34. But the IRS “Instruc- tions for Form 843” also allow an authorized representative to sign and file Form 843 on behalf of the taxpayer. Here, each of the Forms 843 was signed by Chris J. Sheldon, an attorney representing Vensure in the preparation of vari- ous tax forms.

When a legal representative signs a tax form on behalf of a taxpayer, a power of attorney must grant the legal rep- resentative authority to execute the claims. Form 2848 may be used to grant a power of attorney “to authorize an individual to represent you before the IRS.” App’x 158.

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Specifically, the instructions to Form 843 state: “If [the tax- payer’s] authorized representative files Form 843, the orig- inal or copy of Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, must be attached.”

S.App’x 2.3 It is undisputed here that Vensure did not con- currently attach a Form 2848 to any of the six penalty-re- fund claims at the time of filing. There were, however, at least three Forms 2848 filed with the IRS at various points in time that purport to give Mr. Sheldon power of attorney over Vensure’s penalty-refund claims. Vensure identifies two Forms 2848 executed in 2015 and faxed to the IRS’s Centralized Authorization File (“CAF”) unit.4 And, in 2017, Vensure sent the IRS a formal protest for the disal- lowance of the penalty-refund claims and attached a power of attorney, confirming that Silver Law, where Mr. Sheldon was employed, represents Vensure for the tax periods and penalties at issue here. See S.App’x 15.

In 2018, the IRS denied Vensure’s penalty-refund claims because Vensure had not met a “reasonable cause” exception to avoid the penalties. App’x 40–46; App’x 48; App’x 64. In denying these claims, the IRS sent its decision letters to Mr. Sheldon “under the provisions of your power of attorney or other authorization we have on file.”

App’x 40; App’x 43.

II After pursuing administrative remedies at the IRS, Vensure filed a complaint in the Court of Federal Claims in June 2020, seeking a refund of the penalties imposed

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and collected by the IRS. App’x 47. In response, the gov- ernment, as defendant, filed a series of motions to dismiss: the first two were denied without prejudice, but the third motion, at issue here, was granted. In this third and final motion, the government moved to dismiss Vensure’s com- plaint under Rule 12(b)(1) of the Rules of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”) for lack of subject-matter juris- diction because Vensure’s penalty-refund claims were not “duly filed” under 26 U.S.C. § 7422(a). See App’x 83–85.

The government asserted that there were two “flaws” with Vensure’s claims: (1) Vensure had not signed and verified the claims under 26 U.S.C. §§ 6061(a) and 6065, and (2) Vensure had not attached a power of attorney to the Forms 843 for refund that would permit Mr. Sheldon to sign those forms and properly submit the claims. Appel- lee’s Br. 11. Vensure’s response argued, among other things, that Brown v. United States, 22 F.4th 1008 (Fed. Cir. 2022), confirmed that § 7422(a) is non-jurisdictional and that Vensure “substantially complied” with the power of attorney requirement with the filing of its previous Forms 2848. Decision, 164 Fed. Cl. at 285.

The Court of Federal Claims agreed with Vensure that § 7422(a) is non-jurisdictional but “convert[ed] defendant’s jurisdictional motion into a motion to dismiss pursuant to RCFC 12(b)(6).” Id. at 284. Then, relying on § 7422(a), 26 C.F.R. § 301.6402-2(e), Brown, and various IRS instruc- tions, the Court of Federal Claims determined that Ven- sure had “failed to ‘duly file’ its refund claims” because “a valid power of attorney must be submitted together with a refund claim” and Vensure “failed to attach to its refund claims any power of attorney forms.” Id. at 286–87. The Court of Federal Claims further determined that this at- tachment requirement is statutory and thus cannot be waived. Id. at 288. The Court of Federal Claims then granted the government’s motion to dismiss.

Vensure timely appeals, and we have jurisdiction un- der 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(3).

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DISCUSSION We review de novo whether the Court of Federal Claims properly dismissed a complaint for failure to state a claim. See Dixon v. United States, 67 F.4th 1156, 1165 (Fed. Cir. 2023).

Vensure raises three issues on appeal: (1) whether 26 C.F.R. § 301.6402-2(e)’s requirement that “a power of at- torney must accompany the claim” (i.e., the “accompany” requirement) means a power of attorney must be attached to the claim for refund; (2) whether § 301.6402-2(e)’s use of “accompany” is a statutory, non-waivable requirement or is regulatory and thus waivable; and (3) whether the IRS waived the “accompany” requirement of § 301.6402-2(e) here.

The parties each provide their own definitions of “ac- company” within the context of § 301.6402-2(e). Vensure argues that “accompany” means “relevant,” “on file and . . . existing at the time, valid, and sufficient to authorize the signing of the . . . Form 843.” Oral Arg. at 1:34‒49. 5 The government argues that “accompany” means “attach.”

E.g., Appellee’s Br. 20. But we need not construe “accom- pany” to resolve this dispute. Instead, we first address Vensure’s second issue and conclude that § 301.6402-2(e)’s “accompany” requirement is regulatory and waivable. We then provide guidance to the Court of Federal Claims to determine on remand whether the IRS waived the “accom- pany” requirement of § 301.6402-2(e) here.

I The Supreme Court has distinguished between “ex- plicit statutory requirements” and “detailed administrative regulations” governing tax refund procedures. Angelus

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Milling Co. v. Comm’r, 325 U.S. 293, 296 (1945). “Insofar as Congress has made explicit statutory requirements, they must be observed and are beyond the dispensing power of Treasury officials.” Id. In contrast, where a re- quirement is regulatory in nature, the Commissioner of the IRS may “insist upon full compliance with his regulations,” or those requirements may, under certain circumstances, be waived. Id. “The basis of this claim of waiver is that the Commissioner through his agents dispensed with the for- mal requirements of a claim by investigating its merits.” Id. In Angelus Milling, the Supreme Court drew a clear distinction between “explicit statutory requirements” con- tained in statutes enacted by Congress concerning the col- lection of taxes and “[t]he effective administration of these modern complicated revenue measures [which] inescapa- bly leads Congress to authorize detailed administrative regulations by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.” Id. The Supreme Court further emphasized that “Congress has given the Treasury this rule-making power for self-pro- tection and not for self-imprisonment,” and “[i]f the Com- missioner chooses not to stand on his own formal or detailed requirements, it would be making an empty ab- straction, and not a practical safeguard, of a regulation to allow the Commissioner to invoke technical objections after he has investigated the merits of a claim and taken action upon it. Even tax administration does not as a matter of principle preclude considerations of fairness.” Id. at 297.

None of the multiple items of necessary factual information required by the applicable regulations were submitted by the taxpayer in Angelus Milling—only the name and ad- dress of the joint claimants and a statement of the dates and amounts of the tax payments made by one of the joint claimants. Id. at 294 n.2. The specific informational re- quirements set forth in the multiple regulations involved in Angelus Milling were deemed by the Supreme Court to be regulatory in nature, subject to waiver by the Case: 23-1640 Document: 43 Page: 8 Filed: 10/04/2024

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Commissioner, and not statutory commands beyond the Commissioner’s discretion to waive.

To determine whether the “accompany” requirement of § 301.6402-2(e) is statutory or regulatory, and thus whether it is waivable, we begin with a review of the rele- vant statutes and articulate the scope of the “explicit stat- utory requirements” relevant in this case. We then turn to the “accompany” requirement of § 301.6402-2(e) and con- clude that it is a purely regulatory requirement. Finally, we explain why the government’s interpretation of Brown—to require strict compliance with all signature and verification regulations—is so broad as to conflict with the Supreme Court’s guidance in Angelus Milling.

A We begin with the relevant statutory provisions gov- erning the filing of returns and actions for refunds. The parties, and the Court of Federal Claims, cited three.

Section 7422(a), which provides the statutory cause of action for a tax refund suit in the Court of Federal Claims, states: No suit or proceeding shall be maintained in any court for the recovery of any internal revenue tax alleged to have been erroneously or illegally as- sessed or collected, or of any penalty claimed to have been collected without authority, or of any sum alleged to have been excessive or in any man- ner wrongfully collected, until a claim for refund or credit has been duly filed with the Secretary, ac- cording to the provisions of law in that regard, and the regulations of the Secretary established in pur- suance thereof. 26 U.S.C. § 7422(a) (emphasis added). Section 6061(a) states: “Except as otherwise provided . . . any return, state- ment, or other document required to be made under any provision of the internal revenue laws or regulations shall Case: 23-1640 Document: 43 Page: 9 Filed: 10/04/2024

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be signed in accordance with forms or regulations pre- scribed by the Secretary.” Id. § 6061(a) (emphasis added).

And § 6065 states: “Except as otherwise provided by the Secretary, any return, declaration, statement, or other doc- ument required to be made under any provision of the in- ternal revenue laws or regulations shall contain or be verified by a written declaration that it is made under the penalties of perjury.” Id. § 6065 (emphasis added).

In Brown, we concluded that these provisions “impose a default rule that individual taxpayers must personally sign and verify their income tax refund claims.” 22 F.4th at 1012. In light of these statutes and applicable imple- menting regulations, we also concluded that taxpayers may authorize a legal representative to certify the claims and provide a valid power of attorney in place of the taxpayer signature requirement. See id. at 1013. Brown refers to these requirements as the “taxpayer signature and verifi- cation requirements.” Id. “Because the taxpayer signature and verification requirements derive from statute, the IRS cannot waive those requirements.” Id. Notably, however, these statutory provisions do not explain when, where, or how a taxpayer (or a taxpayer’s authorized representative) should comply with these requirements.

B We next look to whether the “accompany” requirement of § 301.6402-2(e)—i.e., the requirement that “a power of attorney must accompany the claim”—is statutory or regu- latory in nature. We conclude that it is a purely regulatory requirement that is not reflected in the language of the rel- evant statutory provisions. We then explain why we find the government’s counterarguments unpersuasive.

The “accompany” requirement at issue presents a reg- ulatory question of when, where, and how to file a power of attorney—not whether one is required to be provided in Case: 23-1640 Document: 43 Page: 10 Filed: 10/04/2024

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lieu of a taxpayer’s signature in the first place. While Brown explained that the latter question is statutory, it did not address the former. Because, as explained below, the statutory provisions do not speak to the when, where, and how of filing a power of attorney, we conclude that the “ac- company” requirement is regulatory and thus waivable.

We are unaware of any relevant statutory provision that establishes requirements for when, where, and how to file a power of attorney with the IRS. Nothing in the stat- utory provisions requires a specific mode of attachment or use of a specific electronic filing system like CAF. Nothing in the statutory provisions indicates that satisfaction of the “signature and verification requirement” must be com- pleted one way for tax returns and another way for tax re- fund claims. And nothing in the regulatory text suggests that the “accompany” requirement echoes the statutory re- quirements, as was the case in Brown. See 22 F.4th at 1013. Instead, the statutory provisions reflect a single signature and verification requirement—i.e., that the tax forms must be signed and verified by the taxpayer or a per- son with power of attorney.

Rather than appearing in a statutory provision, the re- quirements for when, where, and how a power of attorney may accompany a claim are grounded in sub-regulatory IRS instructions and publications. For example, § 301.6042-2(e) requires that claims for credits or refund must be accompanied by a power of attorney, but it never defines “accompany.” The relevant instructions for filing a tax refund (using Form 843) states that “Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, must be at- tached.” S.App’x 2. Another provision addressing individ- ual tax returns, 26 C.F.R. § 1.6012-1(a)(5), also requires that the returns be “accompanied by a power of attorney.”

But it likewise never defines “accompany,” and the rele- vant instructions state, “[i]f your return is signed by a rep- resentative for you, you must have a power of attorney attached . . . .” 1040 (and 1040-SR) Instructions (2023), Case: 23-1640 Document: 43 Page: 11 Filed: 10/04/2024

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https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf. Both sets of instructions suggest attachment is necessary, but they do not define how a Form 2848 must be attached.

Indeed, the IRS admits that physical attachment or concurrent attachment of Form 2848 is not necessary for both tax returns and tax refund claims, despite both regu- lations’ “accompany” requirement. Recall that the CAF system “contain[s] information regarding the authority of individuals appointed under powers of attorney.”

App’x 161. “Generally, the IRS records powers of attorney on the CAF system.” App’x 161. But there are certain one- time or specific-issue powers of attorney that the IRS does not record on CAF. App’x 161. One such specific use is Form 843 (again, the form at issue in this case). App’x 161.

According to the government, taxpayers may use CAF to record Form 2848 for Form 1040 and satisfy the “accom- pany” requirement but may not use CAF for recording Form 2848 for Form 843 to satisfy the “accompany” re- quirement. Oral Arg. at 23:37–24:25; see also id. at 29:16– 30:08. Thus, despite both regulations requiring a power of attorney to “accompany” the claims and both instructions suggesting that attachment is necessary, the IRS proce- dures require physical or concurrent attachment for Form but not Form 1040. In other words, according to the IRS, “accompany” in one circumstance means only physi- cal, concurrent submission, while “accompany” in a sepa- rate circumstance means either physical, concurrent submission or uploading to CAF. This example highlights that the IRS has created procedures to answer the when, where, and how question derived from IRS instructions, publications, and limitations of CAF—not an explicit stat- utory demand. See id. at 32:48–33:09. And the incon- sistent implementation of the when, where, and how of filing a power of attorney is not reflected in the statutory language.

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form (as discussed in Brown), the remainder of the “accom- pany” requirement regarding when, where, and how a tax- payer files a power of attorney is a “detailed administrative regulation[],” rather than an explicit statutory mandate.

See Angelus Milling, 325 U.S. at 296. Therefore, when the IRS fails to apply this regulatory requirement in respond- ing to a claim for refund, and instead addresses a claim on its merits, the “accompany” requirement may be waived.

The government’s insistence that “accompany” is stat- utory in nature is undermined by what appears to be de- sign choices between the filing requirements of different tax forms and a failure to connect these choices to an ex- plicit statutory requirement.

For example, the government argues that “CAF could not have substituted for a Form 2848 that was physically attached to Vensure’s refund claims” essentially because “[n]ot all authorizations can be recorded in the CAF. . . .

CAF does not track authorizations for refund claims filed on Form 843.” Appellee’s Br. 28, 30. While the IRS may have its purposes for designing such a system, its basis for determining when physical attachment is required and when it is not (e.g., when its system cannot and can record the authorization) is unconnected to an “explicit statutory requirement[].” Angelus Milling, 325 U.S. at 296.

Additionally, when asked at oral argument why a CAF filing satisfies the “accompany” requirement for a Form 1040, the government’s response almost entirely relied on (1) how to properly execute a Form 2848, and (2) the CAF system’s ability to track authorizations. See Oral Arg. at 30:13–47. But when asked why a CAF filing would not satisfy the “accompany” requirement for a Form 843, the government responded that (1) the actual power of attor- ney form would be offsite or destroyed and (2) “CAF doesn’t track authorizations for Form 843.” Id. at 30:47–31:59.

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between Forms 1040 and Forms 843, the government re- sponded that it is because Form 2848 has specific fields that, if properly filled out, would be coded into CAF for a Form 1040 but not a Form 843. See id. at 31:58–32:48. The government’s attempt at a basis for such a distinction— that it is a “function of volume” of each type of claim filed— also has no grounding in an explicit statutory requirement.

See id. at 35:10–30.

At bottom, the IRS’s prerogative to design systems and processes that suit its needs does not transform regulations into statutory provisions.

C Our conclusion here is not contrary to Brown. The gov- ernment places significant weight on Brown’s statement that “a taxpayer must satisfy the statutory default rule or else comply strictly with the implementing regulations.”

Appellee’s Br. 19 (quoting Brown, 22 F.4th at 1013). While we recognize that this sentence, standing alone, may ap- pear to elevate to statutory status every IRS regulation ad- dressing signature and verification requirements, we do not agree such a broad interpretation of this single sen- tence is appropriate. To agree with such an interpretation would place Brown in conflict with the Supreme Court’s de- cision in Angelus Milling.

As has been discussed throughout this opinion, Ange- lus Milling distinguished between “explicit statutory re- quirements” and “detailed administrative regulations.” 325 U.S. at 296. To wholesale interpret all regulations as- sociated with signature and verification as statutory would disregard this distinction and elevate all regulations on this subject matter to a statutory requirement. The statu- tory text here simply cannot support that treatment.

Additionally, the issue in Brown was different from the issue before us. In Brown, there was no discussion of the regulation at issue here, merely a single citation to Case: 23-1640 Document: 43 Page: 14 Filed: 10/04/2024

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§ 301.6402-2(e). 22 F.4th at 1013. Further, the facts there were wholly different because “[t]he Browns admit[ted] that they neither signed their refund claims nor tendered powers of attorney to permit their tax preparer to sign the claims on their behalf.” Id. at 1012.6 And Brown stated that it dealt “[t]here only with the facts presented to us, relating to a return that is both unsigned by the taxpayers and not accompanied by a power of attorney.” Id. at 1013.

In Brown, “not accompanied” meant a total absence of a power of attorney. 7 Id. at 1012–13. That is different from the circumstances here where Vensure filed multiple pow- ers of attorney purporting to cover the penalty-refund claims at issue through its two Forms 2848 filed in 2015.

Thus, Brown’s instruction to “satisfy the statutory default rule or else comply strictly with the implementing regula- tions” was limited to the requirement to supply a valid power of attorney, not when, where, and how to file one.

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II Having determined that the “accompany” requirement is regulatory, two fact-based questions remain: (1) whether Vensure’s powers of attorney as filed are sufficient to au- thorize an agent to execute its penalty-refund claims and (2) whether the IRS waived the “accompany” requirement in this case. We remand these questions of fact to the Court of Federal Claims to determine in the first instance.

A The government raises a question as to whether the powers of attorney at issue indeed cover the proper scope of representation due to purported defects with the Forms 2848. On remand, the government can raise these alleged defects with the Court of Federal Claims (subject to that court’s view of whether the arguments have been ade- quately preserved). To the extent that any alleged defects are directed only to the when, where, and how of filing a power of attorney, such defects likely would not demon- strate an unmet statutory requirement and, instead, would implicate only regulatory requirements or sub-regulatory instructions. But to the extent the defects are such that Vensure has failed outright to grant Mr. Sheldon authority to represent it before the IRS to execute the penalty-refund claims at issue, then no valid power of attorney exists and Vensure is, like the Browns, left in violation of the signa- ture and verification requirements necessary to “duly filed” a claim under § 7422(a). See Brown, 22 F.4th at 1013.

B Assuming a valid power of attorney was filed with the IRS to cover the scope of representation for the penalty-re- fund claims, then the Court of Federal Claims must deter- mine whether the “accompany” requirement was in fact waived here. When the IRS “dispense[s] with the formal requirements of a claim by investigating its merits,” regu- latory requirements may be waived. Angelus Milling, 325 Case: 23-1640 Document: 43 Page: 16 Filed: 10/04/2024

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U.S. at 296; see also id. at 297 (“If the Commissioner chooses not to stand on his own formal or detailed require- ments, it would be making an empty abstraction, and not a practical safeguard, of a regulation to allow the Commis- sioner to invoke technical objections after he has investi- gated the merits of a claim and taken action upon it.”).

Angelus Milling’s waiver doctrine applies when “(1) there is clear evidence that the Commissioner under- stood the claim that was made, even though there was a departure in form in the submission, (2) it is unmistakable that the Commissioner dispensed with the formal require- ments and examined the claim, and (3) the Commissioner took action upon the claim.” Brown, 22 F.4th at 1013 (cit- ing Angelus Milling, 325 U.S. at 297–98). This three-part test contains underlying factual questions, which we will not undertake for the first time on appellate review. We leave to the Court of Federal Claims to decide this issue (if necessary) on remand.

CONCLUSION We have considered the parties’ remaining arguments and find them unpersuasive. For the foregoing reasons, we vacate the Court of Federal Claims’ prior determination that Vensure’s claims were not “duly filed” under § 7422(a) and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

VACATED AND REMANDED COSTS No costs.