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The Federal Tax Clinic, which primarily focuses on tax controversies through litigation and tax administrative appeals with the federal government, landed some incredible victories this fall. Led by managing director Ramón Ortiz-Vélez, clinic students represented a client who married a small business contractor within six months of her arrival to the U.S. around 2011. The students successfully advanced an innocent spouse argument and reduced the client’s ’s tax liability from $1.2M (including interest and penalties) to zero. Winning the case required knowledge of U.S. tax structure, business structure and the English language, none of which the client possessed.

“I could see that the clinic had real experience dealing with the IRS,” said the grateful client. “This team was always one phone call away, always returning the calls and emails on the same day, which is extremely rare nowadays. I was still working on understanding the process, but they took the time to listen and answer my long list of questions and they provided real insight on what I could expect. They did a great job and as a result we won the case, which in my case was a miracle.”

In another case, a disabled taxpayer with limited Social Security income, who was the named beneficiary of a trust, was wronged by the trustee who retained the trust funds and shifted the income, giving the taxpayer a bill for taxes on that income the beneficiary never received. The clinic litigated the matter on the taxpayer and beneficiary’s behalf.

In another case, the client had a home-based S corporation. He sold real property but did not file his taxes correctly, accumulating tax liability over the years as well as interest and penalties. The clinic made an offer of compromise to the federal government, which included navigating entanglements to determine which part of the client’s two businesses they were representing.

“Tax is a complex matter and for an individual to file their taxes correctly, it takes a lot of time and effort,” said Mia Qu, 2L. “Participating in the client meetings helped me understand the taxpayer’s story and how to approach the case differently.”

Qu said that the value of learning by doing was recently confirmed in a conversation with the current tax judge who met with clinic students and said the clinic experience in law school taught her to be a better judge.