The Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) administers collection of virtually all taxes in the District of Columbia.  You may protest almost all assessments to the Office of Administrative Hearings, except that you may not bring to the Office of Administrative Hearings cases involving real property, offers in compromise, installments agreements and refund claims.

If you file a case with the Office of Administrative Hearings, you must waive your right to have any challenges to the proposed assessment resolved in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  You may still appeal a decision of the Office of Administrative Hearings to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.  You must file a copy of the proposed assessment with your protest.

Sample Decisions

Administrative law judges issue a written decision for every case that is contested. The decisions below are examples of some issues raised in Office of Administrative Hearings’ cases involving this agency. You can review these decisions to get a sense of how prior cases were decided.

Please note that the facts of each case are different. These cases should be used for informational purposes only.

• Microsoft Corporation, Inc. v. Office of Tax and Revenue, May 1, 2012 (reversing Notice of Proposed Tax Deficiency for corporate franchise taxes)
• Canada Dry Potomac Corp. v. Office of Tax and Revenue, April 20, 2012 (reversing Notice of Proposed Tax Deficiency for business franchise taxes and ball park fees since Petitioner did not maintain offices, warehouses, or places of business in the District of Columbia)
• Edwards v. Office of Tax and Revenue, August 13, 2010 (affirming disallowance of Petitioner’s claimed partnership loss and attorney fee deductions and remanding to agency for recalculation of total amount owed)
• Bartholomew v. Office of Tax and Revenue, December 9, 2011 (affirming Notice of Proposed Tax Deficiency because Petitioner was not a bona fide resident of another jurisdiction during relevant tax years)
• Touchstone Consulting Group, Inc. v. Office of Tax and Revenue, April 27, 2011 (reversing Notice of Proposed Deficiency based on an installment stock sale, finding no income was received during the relevant tax year).

Agency Law

Administrative law judges base their decisions upon many sources of law, chief among them the District of Columbia laws (DC Official Code) and the District of Columbia regulations (DCMR). Depending on the type of case, federal law (US Code) and federal regulations (CFR) may also be relevant. Cases decided on the issues in other courts, especially the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, are relevant.

Forms

• OTR—Taxpayer’s Protest of a Proposed Assessment
• General—Blank Submission Form
• General—Certificate of Service
• General—Customer Survey Form
• General—Electronic Filing Cover Sheet
• General—Subpoena Form (sample only)
• General—Notice of Appearance for Lawyers
• General—Request for a Different Hearing Date
• General—Request to Participate by Telephone
• General—Request for Audio Recording of Hearing