1 (Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2020

Syllabus

NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337. 

## SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

Syllabus

CIC SERVICES, LLC v . INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE ET AL

.

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

No. 19–930. Argued December 1, 2020—Decided May 17, 2021
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Notice 2016–66 requires taxpayers and

“material advisors” like petitioner CIC to report information about cer

tain insurance agreemen ts called micro-captive transactions. The con

sequences for noncompliance include both civil tax penalties and crim

inal prosecution. Prior to the No tice’s first reporting deadline, CIC filed a complaint challenging the No tice as invalid under the Adminis

trative Procedure Act and asking the District Court to grant injunctive relief setting the Notice aside. The District Court dismissed the action as barred by the Anti-Injunction Ac t, which generally requires those contesting a tax’s validity to pay th e tax prior to filing a legal chal

lenge. A divided panel of the Sixth Circuit affirmed.
Held : A suit to enjoin Notice 2016–66 does not trigger the Anti-Injunc

tion Act even though a violation of the Notice may result in a tax pen

alty. Pp. 5–16.

(a) The Anti-Injunction Act, 26 U. S. C. §7421(a), provides that “no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be maintained in any cour t by any person.” Absent the tax penalty, this case would be easy: the Anti-Injunction Act would pose no barrier. A suit to enjoin a requ irement to report information is not an action to restrain th e “assessment or collection ” of a tax, even if the information will help the IRS collect future tax revenue. See Direct Marketing Assn. v. Brohl , 575 U. S. 1, 9–10. The addition of a tax pen

alty complicates matters, but it does not ultimately change the answer. Under the Anti-Injunction Act, a “sui t[’s] purpose” depends on the ac

tion’s objective purpose, i.e. , the relief the suit requests. Alexander v. “Americans United” Inc. , 416 U. S. 752, 761. And CIC’s complaint seeks to set aside the Notice itself , not the tax penalty that may follow2 CIC SERVS., LLC v. IRS

Syllabus

the Notice’s breach. The Government insists that no real difference exists between a suit to invalidate the Notice and one to preclude the tax penalty. But three aspects of the regulatory scheme here refute the idea that this is a tax action in disguise. First, the Notice imposes affirmative reporting obligations, in flicting costs separate and apart from the statutory tax penalty. Second, it is hard to characterize CIC’s suit as one to enjoin a tax when CIC stands nowhere near the cusp of tax liability; to owe any tax, CIC would have to first violate the Notice, the IRS would then have to find noncompliance, and the IRS would then have to exercise its discretion to levy a tax penalty. Third, the presence of criminal penalties forces CI C to bring an action in just this form, with the requested relief framed in just this manner. The Gov

ernment’s proposed al ternative procedure—having a party like CIC disobey the Notice and pay the resulting tax penalty before bringing a suit for a refund—would risk criminal punishment. All of these facts, taken together, show that CIC’s suit targets the Notice, not the down

stream tax penalty. Thus, the Anti-Injunction Act imposes no bar. Pp. 5–13.

(b) Allowing CIC’s suit to proceed will not open the floodgates to pre

enforcement tax litigation. When ta xpayers challenge ordinary taxes, assessed on earning income, or selling stock, or entering into a busi

ness transaction, the underlying activi ty is legal, and the sole target for an injunction is the command to pay a tax. In that scenario, the Anti-Injunction Act will always bar pre-enforcement review. And the analysis is the same for a challenge to a so-called regulatory tax—that is, a tax designed mainly to influence private conduct, rather than to raise revenue. The Anti-Injunction Act draws no distinction between regulatory and revenue-raising tax laws, Bob Jones Univ . v. Simon

, 416 U. S. 725, 743, and the Anti-Injunction Act kicks in even if a plain

tiff’s true objection is to a regulatory tax’s regulatory effect. By con

trast, CIC’s suit targets neither a regulatory tax nor a revenue-raising one; CIC’s action challenges a reporting mandate separate from any tax. Because the IRS chose to addr ess its concern about micro-captive agreements by imposing a reportin g requirement rather than a tax, suits to enjoin that re quirement fall outside th e Anti-Injunction Act’s domain. Pp. 13–15. 925 F. 3d 247, reversed and remanded.

K

AGAN , J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. S OTOMAYOR , J., and K AVANAUGH , J., filed concurring opinions._________________

_________________ 1 Cite as: 593 U. S. ____ (2021)

Opinion of the Court

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash

ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other form al errors, in order that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

## SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

No. 19–930

CIC SERVICES, LLC, PETITIONER v. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, ET AL

.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
[May 17, 2021]

J USTICE K AGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. The Anti-Injunction Act, 26 U. S. C. §7421(a), bars any “suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or col

lection of any tax.” The question here is whether the Actprohibits a suit seeking to set aside an informationreporting requirement that is backed by both civil tax pen

alties and criminal penalties. We hold that the Act does not preclude the suit.

I Americans have never had much enthusiasm for paying taxes. The Nation’s first income taxes—adopted to finance the Civil War—met with considerable (one might even say “taxing”) legal resistance. See Hickman & Kerska, Restor

ing the Lost Anti-Injunction Act, 103 Va. L. Rev. 1683, 1723–1725 (2017). Some taxpayers, alleging the taxes ille

gal, sought to enjoin collecti on efforts. And some courts granted the requested relief. See, e.g. , Roback v. Taylor , 20 F. Cas. 852, 854 (No. 11,877) (CC SD Ohio 1866); Bank for Savings v. Collector , 3 Wall. 495 (1866). Those rulings dis

rupted the flow of revenue to the Federal Government. As one late-19th century treatise writer described the problem,2 CIC SERVS., LLC v. IRS

Opinion of the Court
“improvident employment of the writ of injunction” threat

ened to “seriously embarrass” tax-dependent “operations of the government.” T. Cooley, Law of Taxation 536–537 (2d ed. 1886). Congress responded by enacting the Anti-Injunction Act. See Act of Mar. 2, 1867, §10, 14 Stat. 475. In its current form (differing little from the original), the Act provides: “[N]o suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be ma intained in any court by any person.” 26 U. S. C. §7421(a). The Act, we have stated, “protects the [Federal] Govern ment’s ability to collect a con

sistent stream of revenue, by barring litigation to enjoin or otherwise obstruct the collection of taxes.” National Feder

ation of Independent Business v. Sebelius , 567 U. S. 519, 543 (2012) ( NFIB ). Because of the Act, a person can typi

cally challenge a federal tax only after he pays it, by suing for a refund. See ibid. In an ordinary Anti-Injunction Act case, that short pri

mer on the statute would naturally bring us to a description of the tax under dispute. But describing the tax implicated here will have to wait. For t hat tax—the thing that raises the Anti-Injunction Act question—comes into play only at the back end of a complex information-reporting scheme. The reporting scheme itself is where we must begin. As every taxpayer knows, the Internal Revenue Service(IRS) has broad power to require the submission of taxrelated information that it believes helpful in assessing and collecting taxes. See §6011(a). Those reporting rules may apply not just to taxpayers but also to “material advisors”— individuals or entities that earn income from providing tax

payers with certain kinds of “aid, assistance, or advice.” §6111(b)(1)(A); see §6111(a). This case starts with require

ments that taxpayers and material advisors provide de

tailed information about what the Internal Revenue Code calls “reportable transaction[s].” §6707A(c)(1). The Code describes those transactions simply as ones that “hav[e] a3 Cite as: 593 U. S. ____ (2021)

Opinion of the Court
potential for tax avoidance or evasion.” Ibid. Rather than give further specifics, the Co de delegates to the Secretary of the Treasury, acting through the IRS, the task of identi

fying particular transactions with the requisite risk of tax abuse. See §§6011, 6707A(c)(1). Using that authority, the IRS determined that so-called micro-captive transactions must be reported because of their potential for tax evasion. A micro-captive transaction is typically an insurance agreement between a parent com

pany and a “captive” insurer under its control. The Code provides the parties to such an agreement with tax ad

vantages. The insured party can deduct its premium pay

ments as business expenses. See §162(a). And the insurer can exclude up to $2.2 million of those premiums from its own taxable income, under a tax break for small insurance companies. See §831(b). The result is that the money does not get taxed at all. That much, for better or worse, is a congressional choice. But no tax benefit should accrue if the money is not really for insurance—if the insurance con

tract is a sham, which the affiliated companies have en

tered into only to escape tax liability. And according to the IRS, some micro-captive transactions are of that kind. Sothe IRS issued Notice 2016–66 identifying certain microcaptive agreements as reportable transactions. See 2016– 47 Cum. Bull. 745. That Notice compels taxpayers and ma

terial advisors associated with such an agreement to (among other things) “describe the transaction in sufficient detail for the IRS to be able to understand [its] tax struc

ture.” Id. , at 748. With that information, the IRS can check for facts—like coverage for an “implausible risk” or premi

ums that “significantly exceed” prevailing rates—suggest

ing that the taxpayer is not entitled to the tax benefit it claims. Id., at 745–746. Noncompliance with Notice 2016–66 subjects a taxpayer or material advisor to stiff pe nalties—at last bringing us to the tax involved in this case, as well as to non-tax criminal4 CIC SERVS., LLC v. IRS

Opinion of the Court
consequences. By statutory provision, all failures to supply required information on report able transactions, including the micro-captive transactions specified in the Notice, are punishable by civil monetary penalties—$50,000 for advi

sors and up to that amount (depending on the amount of tax gain realized) for taxpayers. See §§6707(b), 6707A(b). In addition, an advisor may incur a daily $10,000 penalty for failing to furnish, on request, a list of the people it ad

vised on a reportable transaction. See §§6708(a), 6112(a). And critically here, all those penalties are “deemed” to be“tax[es]” for purposes of the Code—including the AntiInjunction Act. §6671(a). So, again, the civil penalties for violating Notice 2016–66 are tax penalties, and must be treated as such. But no sooner do we find the tax appended to the Notice’s reporting sc heme than we encounter some

thing else. Under the Code, any person who “willfully” breaches an IRS reporting requi rement is also subject to criminal penalties. §7203. Such a violation is a misde

meanor, punishable by fines and up to one year in prison. And, unsurprisingly, that crimi nal liability is not “deemed”
a tax. This suit challenges the lawfulness of Notice 2016–66. The petitioner is CIC Services , a material advisor to tax

payers participating in micro-captive transactions. It brought this action before the Notice’s first reporting date, rather than after a reporting vi olation, let alone payment of penalty. (As far as we know, CIC has still not committed a violation, instead complying with the Notice while pressing this suit.) CIC’s complaint mainly asserts that the IRS vi

olated the Administrative Pr ocedure Act (APA) by issuing the Notice without notice-and-comment procedures. The complaint also alleges that th e Notice is arbitrary and ca

pricious under the APA becaus e it imposes new reporting requirements without proven need. So the complaint asks the court to “set[ ] aside IRS Notice 2016–66”—more specif

ically, to “enjoin the enforcement of Notice 2016–66 as an5 Cite as: 593 U. S. ____ (2021)

Opinion of the Court
unlawful IRS rule” and to “declar[e] that Notice 2016–66 is unlawful.” Complaint in No. 17–CV–110 (ED Tenn., Mar. 27, 2017), Doc. 1, pp. 2, 16 (Complaint). But the suit has not yet proceeded to the merits. TheGovernment moved to dismiss the action based on the AntiInjunction Act, arguing that CIC’s “requested relief would prevent the IRS from assessing a tax penalty against mate

rial advisors” that disregard the Notice’s reporting require

ments. Motion to Dismiss in No. 17–cv–110 (ED Tenn., May 30, 2017), Doc. 25–1, p. 9. In the Government’s view, the way for CIC to bring its cl aims is to disobey the Notice and then sue for a refund of any resulting tax penalty. The District Court agreed. It reasoned that CIC’s suit sought “to restrain the IRS’s assessment or collection” of the tax penalty that could be imposed for noncompliance. 2017 WL 5015510, *4 (ED Tenn., Nov. 2, 2017). The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed in a divided decision. Accord

ing to the majority, CIC’s suit would “restrain (indeed elim

inate)” the tax penalty by “invalidat[ing] the Notice, which is [that tax’s] entire basis.” 925 F. 3d 247, 255 (2019). Judge Nalbandian dissented. “[T]his is not,” he wrote, “a dispute over taxes”: “[A] suit to enjoin the enforcement of a reporting requirement is not” one to restrain a tax’s collec

tion. Id. , at 259–260. Under the majority’s view, the dis

sent also objected, CIC could challenge the reporting scheme only by “violat[ing] the law” and risking “criminal prosecution.” Id. , at 263. The Sixth Circuit denied a peti

tion for rehearing en banc, over a dissent from seven judges. We granted certiorari, 590 U. S. ___ (2020), and now re

verse.
II A The issue here, most concretely stated, is whether the Anti-Injunction Act bars CIC’s su it complaining that Notice 2016–66’s reporting requirements violate the APA. Once6 CIC SERVS., LLC v. IRS

Opinion of the Court
again, the Anti-Injunction Act provides, with exceptions not relevant here, that “no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be maintained in any court by any person.” §7421(a). If CIC’s suit is not for that purpose, it can go forw ard. If the suit is for that purpose, it must be dismissed. In that event, CIC could con

test the legality of the reporting rules only by violating them and suing for a refund of a later tax penalty. If that downstream tax penalty did not exist, this case would be a cinch: The Anti-Injunction Act would not apply and the suit could proceed. A reporting requirement is not a tax; and a suit brought to set aside such a rule is not one to enjoin a tax’s assessment or collection. That is so even ifthe reporting rule will help the IRS bring in future tax revenue—here, by identifying sham insurance transactions. See supra, at 3. We said as much in Direct Marketing Assn.

v. Brohl , 575 U. S. 1 (2015). 1 In that case, out-of-state re

tailers wanted to invalidate a Colorado law requiring them to report to the State’s Departm ent of Revenue any sale to a state resident on which they had not collected tax. We allowed the suit to proceed, expl aining that a suit about re

porting requirements is not ab out the “assessment” or “col

lection” of taxes. Id. , at 9–10. “Information gathering,” we stated, is “a phase of tax admi nistration procedure that oc

curs before assessment [or] collection.” Id. , at 8. And it did not matter that the reporting requirements would “facili

tate collection of taxes”—there, by identifying residents who owed sales taxes. Id. , at 12. The statute’s limit on in

junctions, we said, is “not keyed to all activities that may improve a State’s ability to assess and collect taxes.” Id. , at

——————

1 Direct Marketing construed the Tax Injunction Act—a statute, “mod

eled on the Anti-Injunction Act,” that limits injunctive relief against state tax collection. 575 U. S., at 8. This Court has “assume[d] that words used in both Acts,” such as “assess ment” and “collection,” are “generally used in the same way.” Ibid.7 Cite as: 593 U. S. ____ (2021)

Opinion of the Court

11. It is instead “keyed to the acts of assessment [and] col

lection themselves.” Id., at 12. That means a suit directed at ordinary reporting duties c an go forward, unimpeded by the Anti-Injunction Act. On this much, even the Govern

ment agrees. See Brief for Respondents 27. The complication here is that Notice 2016–66’s reporting obligations (unlike those in Direct Marketing ) are backed up by a statutory tax penalty. As earlier described, the Code provides that a taxpayer who violates a demand for information about a reportable transaction—including those specified in the Notice—is subject to civil monetary penalties. See supra, at 3–4. And the Code “deem[s]” those civil penalties to be “tax[es]” as the Anti-Injunction Act uses that term. §6671(a); see NFIB , 567 U. S., at 544 (“Congress can, of course,” direct that a penalty “be treated as a tax for purposes of the Anti-Injunction Act”). The question thus becomes whether that added tax penalty changes the anal

ysis. Does its presence—as a sanction for flouting the Notice—mean that CIC’s suit is, as the Anti-Injunction Act provides, “for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax”? In considering a “suit[’s] purpose,” we inquire not into a taxpayer’s subjective motive, but into the action’s objective aim—essentially, the relief the suit requests. The parties agree on that interpretation, as both consistent with the Act’s ordinary meaning and necessary for the Act’s admin

istration. See Brief for Respondents 40; Reply Brief 4; Tr. of Oral Arg. 15, 34. The purpose of a measure is “the end or aim to which [it] is directed.” N. Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (rev. ed. 1844); see Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 1847 (1976). And in this context, that aim is not best assessed by probing an individual taxpayer’s innermost reasons for suing. Down that path lies too much potential for circumventing the Act. Instead, this Court has looked to the face of the taxpayer’s complaint. See, e.g. , Bob Jones Univ. v. Simon

,8 CIC SERVS., LLC v. IRS

Opinion of the Court
416 U. S. 725, 738 (1974). We have asked about what the Government here calls “the substance of the suit”—the claims brought and injuries alleged—to determine the suit’s object. Brief for Respondents 40. And most espe

cially, we have looked to the “relief requested”—the thing sought to be enjoined. Alexander v. “Americans United” Inc. , 416 U. S. 752, 761 (1974); see Bob Jones , 416 U. S., at 732 (“[A] suit seeking [injunctive] relief ” against a tax “fallssquarely within the literal scope of the Act”). The AntiInjunction Act kicks in when the target of a requested in

junction is a tax obligation—or stated in the Act’s language, when that injunction runs against the “collection or assess

ment of [a] tax.” It is in characterizing the purpose of CIC’s suit that the parties’ disagreement emerges. Recall that CIC’s complaint avers that Notice 2016–66 violates the APA. See supra, at 4–5. And the complaint describes the relief requested as “setting aside IRS Notice 2016–66,” “enjoin[ing] the en

forcement of Notice 2016–66 as an unlawful IRS rule,” and “declaring that Notice 2016–66 is unlawful.” Complaint 2, 16. According to CIC, all of that reveals the suit’s aim as invalidating the Notice and thereby eliminating its onerous reporting requirements—not as blocking the downstream tax penalty that may sanction the Notice’s breach. See Re

ply Brief 6. By contrast, the Government contends that the suit’s purpose is to stop the collection of the tax itself. See Brief for Respondents 12. In making that claim, the Gov

ernment picks up on the word “enforcement” in CIC’s re

quest for relief: Because the No tice is enforced through tax penalties, the Government claims, “enjoin[ing] the [No

tice’s] enforcement,” as CIC wants, means preventing the IRS from collecting taxes. Id. , at 23, 37–38. And even put

ting aside that word, the Government insists that there is no real difference between a suit to invalidate the Notice and one to preclude the tax penalty. See id. , at 38; Tr. of Oral Arg. 54–56. Avoiding the burdens of compliance with9 Cite as: 593 U. S. ____ (2021)

Opinion of the Court
the Notice and avoiding the tax that sanctions noncompli

ance, the Government asserts, are “two sides of the same coin.” Brief for Respondents 37. The Government thus sug

gests that by framing this suit as an attack on the Notice, CIC is trying to “eva[de] the Anti-Injunction Act through artful pleading.” Id. , at 38. To begin with, we agree with CIC’s reading of its com

plaint. The complaint contests the legality of Notice 2016– 66, not of the statutory tax penalty that serves as one way to enforce it. CIC alleges that the Notice is procedurally and substantively flawed; it brings no legal claim against the separate statutory tax. And CIC’s complaint asks for injunctive relief from the Notice ’s reporting rules, not from any impending or eventual tax obligation. Contra the Gov

ernment’s view, a request in an APA action to “enjoin the enforcement” of an IRS reporting rule is most naturally un

derstood as a request to “set aside” that rule (as the com

plaint elsewhere says), not to block the application of a pen

alty that might be impose d for some yet-to-happen violation. 5 U. S. C. §706; Complaint 2, 9, 16. Indeed, CIC’s complaint barely mentions that penalty. The complaint, and particularly its request for relief, sets out this suit’s purpose as enjoining the Notice. And we reject the Government’s argument that an injunc

tion against the Notice is the same as one against the tax penalty—just “two sides of the same coin.” Brief for Re

spondents 37. If that view were right, of course, no amount of artful pleading would avail: CIC’s suit targeting the No

tice would then in fact target the tax, and the AntiInjunction Act would apply. But the Government’s take is wrong. Three aspects of the regulatory scheme here, taken in combination, refute the idea that this is a tax action in disguise. They show that in addressing Notice 2016–66, this suit (and any resulting injunction) addresses some

thing other than the tax penalty helping to back it up.10 CIC SERVS., LLC v. IRS

Opinion of the Court
First, the Notice imposes affirmative reporting obliga

tions, inflicting costs separate and apart from the statutory tax penalty. As described earlier, the Notice levies no tax. Rather, it compels taxpayers and their material advisors to collect and submit detailed info rmation about micro-captive transactions and their participants. See supra, at 3. And obeying that mandate is likely to involve significant time and expense. Here, for example, CIC estimates that it will have to spend “hundreds of hours of labor and in excess of $60,000 per year” to comply with the Notice. See Complaint ¶40. Costs of that kind may well exceed, or even dwarf, the tax penalties for a violation. So in bringing this suit, CIC challenges a regulatory mandate that (1) is not a tax and (2) entails compliance costs whose amount is not tied to, and often goes beyond, any tax. Simply stated, this suit at

tempts to get out from under the (non-tax) burdens of a (non-tax) reporting obligation. Of course, if the suit suc

ceeds, CIC will never have to worry about the tax penalty; once the reporting duty disappears, the sanction becomes irrelevant. But that is the suit’s after-effect, not its sub

stance. The suit still target s the reporting mandates—the independently onerous reporting mandates—of the Notice itself. Second and relatedly, the No tice’s reporting rule and the statutory tax penalty are several steps removed from each other. Consider what has to happen before CIC owes taxes to the IRS. To start, CIC has to withhold required infor

mation about a micro-captive transaction that the Notice covers. (And note, for whatever it is worth, that CIC dis

claims any intent to do so while the Notice remains the law. See Brief for Petitioner 29.) Next, the IRS must determine (often no small matter) that a vi olation of the Notice has in fact occurred. And finally, the IRS must make the—en

tirely discretionary—decision to impose a tax penalty. See §6707A(d). If and only if all those things occur does tax li

-11 Cite as: 593 U. S. ____ (2021)

Opinion of the Court
ability attach. That threefold contingency matters in as

sessing whether the Anti-Injunction Act applies. Even the Government concedes that when there is “too attenuated a chain of connection” between an upstream duty and a “downstream tax,” a court should not view a suit challeng

ing the duty as aiming to “restrain the assessment or col

lection of a tax.” Tr. of Oral Arg. 38–39. 2 That principle favors CIC here. CIC stands nowhere near the cusp of tax liability: Between the upstream Notice and the downstream tax, the river runs long. So it is again hard to characterize this suit’s purpose as enjoining a tax. Third, violation of the Notice is punishable not only by a tax, but by separate criminal penalties. As noted above, any “[w]illful failure” to comply with the Notice’s reporting rules can lead to as much as a year in prison. §7203; see

supra, at 3–4. That fact clinches the case for treating a suit brought to set aside the Notice as different from one brought to restrain its back-up tax. For the existence of criminal penalties explains why an entity like CIC must bring an action in just this form, framing its requested re

lief in just this way. Recall what the Government would

——————

2 The Government’s own example prov es our point. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations go verning the resale of diesel fuel are enforced in part through a pena lty that Congress has deemed a tax, in just the way it has the penalty here. See §§6720A(a), 6671(a). The Government concedes that “a court might well conclude” that a suit to enjoin the enforcement of the EPA regu lations is “not one ‘for the purpose of restraining’ tax assessment or collection, even if ” a ruling for the plaintiff would “have an eventual downstream impact on the IRS’s col

lection of the [tax] penalty.” Brief for Respondents 44. But that example is no different from this case, save that here the IRS, not the EPA, ad

ministers the regulatory mandate. And that one variance should not matter. As explained above, an IRS reporting requirement absent a tax penalty no more triggers the Anti-Inj unction Act than an EPA rule does. See Direct Marketing Assn. v. Brohl , 575 U. S. 1, 11–12 (2015); supra, at 6–7. So adding an identical tax penalty to each of those regulatory schemes should affect the Anti-Inj unction Act analysis in the same way—which is to say, not at all.12 CIC SERVS., LLC v. IRS

Opinion of the Court
have such a party do: disobey the Notice, pay a resulting tax penalty, and then bring a refund suit. See Brief for Re

spondents 16–17; supra, at 5. That approach—not the AntiInjunction Act’s familiar pay-now-sue-later procedure, but one with lawbreaking at the start—subjects the party to criminal punishment. 3 And that is not the kind of thing an ordinary person risks, even to contest the most burdensome regulation. So the criminal penalties here practically ne

cessitate a pre-enforcement, rather than a refund, suit—if there is to be a suit at all. And so too, those penalties ne

cessitate a suit aimed at eliminating the Notice, rather than the statutory tax penalty. Only an injunction against the Notice gives the taxpayer or ad visor what it wants: relief from the obligation to report transactions. An injunction against the tax penalty would not do so. Because such an injunction would leave both the reporting duty and the criminal penalty untouched, the taxpayer or advisor would still have to accede to the Notice’s demands on pain of prison time. Small wonder that CIC’s complaint asks for an injunction against the Notice, not one against the tax penalty helping to enforce it. Contrary to the Government’s assertion, those injunctions are not two sides of one coin. For all these reasons, the purpose of CIC’s suit is not to

——————

3 The Government suggests that criminal liability would not attach to a taxpayer or advisor who refuses to co mply with the Notice out of a “good faith” objection to its validity. Brief for Respondents 46. It is easy to seewhy the Government wishes that were true: In none of our AntiInjunction Act cases has postponing a taxpayer’s suit until after payment exposed him to criminal penalties—beca use in no other case has that ap

proach required a taxpayer to break a law in the first instance. But this Court’s precedent pr ecludes the Government’s effort to erase the crimi

nal penalties from this case. We have held in no uncertain terms that “a defendant’s views about the validity” of a tax provision—even if held “in good faith”—do not “negate[ ] willfulness or provide[ ] a defense to crimi

nal prosecution.” Cheek v. United States , 498 U. S. 192, 204, 206 (1991). So in failing to report transactions as the Notice requires, an advisor like CIC would risk criminal punishment.13 Cite as: 593 U. S. ____ (2021)

Opinion of the Court
“restrain[ ] the assessment or collection of [a] tax.” §7421(a). The complaint, and particularly the relief sought, targets the Notice’s reporting rule, asking that it be set aside as a violation of the APA. And nothing in that request smacks of artful pleading. To the contrary. That the Notice imposes an affirmative duty independent of the tax, entail

ing its own substantial costs; that the Notice and tax may remain forever divorced, depending on both CIC’s and the IRS’s choices; that not only the tax but also criminal penal

ties backstop the Notice—these facts, when combined, read

ily explain why CIC’s suit targets the upstream reporting mandate, not the downstream tax. And because that is the suit’s aim, the Anti-Injunction Act imposes no bar.

B The Government worries that a ruling for CIC will enfee

ble the Anti-Injunction Act. If CIC can bring this suit now, the Government claims, a wave of pre-enforcement actions will follow. Canny plaintiffs will assert non-tax reasons (in

cluding objections to regulatory demands) for contesting the imposition of taxes. See Brief for Respondents 32, 38. Andin that way, taxpayers will obtain just what the AntiInjunction Act is meant to foreclose—orders “preemptively shield[ing]” their activities or transactions from “tax conse

quences.” Id. , at 13. More and more, the Government warns, tax litigation will shift from refund actions to pre

enforcement suits. And the IRS’s ability to assess and col

lect taxes will decline in proportion. The Government, however, much overstates the possible consequences of today’s ruling. As we have explained, this suit falls outside the Anti-Injunction Act because the in

junction it requests does not run against a tax at all. See

supra, at 9–13. The suit contests, and seeks relief from, a separate legal mandate; the tax appears on the scene—as criminal penalties do too—only to sanction that mandate’s violation. Or as Judge Nalbandian put the point below:14 CIC SERVS., LLC v. IRS

Opinion of the Court
“[T]his is not a dispute over taxes.” 925 F. 3d, at 259; see

supra, at 5. By contrast, the kind of case the Government invokes in making its floodgates claim is a conflict over taxes, whether on earning income, or selling stock, or enter

ing into a business transaction. In such a case, the legal rule at issue is a tax provision. The tax does not backstop the violation of another law that independently prohibits or commands an action. Instead, the tax imposes a cost on perfectly legal behavior. So th ere is no target for an injunc

tion other than the command to pay the tax; there is no nontax legal obligation to restrain. Given that fact, the AntiInjunction Act bars pre-enforcement review, prohibiting a taxpayer from bringing (as the Government fears) a “preemptive[ ]” suit to foreclose tax liability. Brief for Re

spondents 13. And it does so always—whatever the tax

payer’s subjective reason for cont esting the tax at issue. If the dispute is about a tax rule—as it is in the run-of-the

mine suits the Government raises—the sole recourse is to pay the tax and seek a refund. That is just as true when the tax in question is a so-called regulatory tax—that is, a tax designed mainly to influence private conduct, rather than to raise revenue. This Court has long since “abandoned the vi ew that bright-line distinc

tions exist between regulatory and revenue-raising taxes.” Bob Jones , 416 U. S., at 743, n. 17; see id. , at 741, n. 12; Sonzinsky v. United States , 300 U. S. 506, 513 (1937) (“Every tax is in some measure regulatory”). And for just as long, we have rejected the view that regulatory tax cases have a special pass from the Anti-Injunction Act. A century ago, the Court in Bailey v. George , 259 U. S. 16 (1922), held that the Act barred a pre-enforcement suit challenging a tax intended to discourage the (then lawful) use of child la

bor. Some 50 years later, the Court in Bob Jones and Amer

icans United similarly held that the Act barred pre

enforcement suits challenging IRS decisions to revoke the15 Cite as: 593 U. S. ____ (2021)

Opinion of the Court
tax-exempt status of entities that had engaged in, respec

tively, discriminatory condu ct and lobbying activity—con

duct that was legal but disfavored for tax purposes. See 416 U. S., at 735; 416 U. S., at 755. In doing so, the Court made clear that the plaintiffs’ reason s for suing did not matter: It was, for example, irrelevant that Bob Jones University ob

jected to the IRS’s “attempt to regulate the admissions pol

icies of private universities.” 416 U. S., at 739. Nor did it matter that the tax ruling was in truth an effort to change those policies. Regardless of those facts, the suits sought to prevent the levying of taxes, and so could not go forward. The Anti-Injunction Act, we said then and say again now,draws no distinction between regulatory and revenueraising tax rules. It applies whenever a suit calls for en

joining the IRS’s assessment and collection of taxes—of whatever kind. What sets this suit apart is that it no more targets a reg

ulatory tax than a revenue-raising one. One last time: CIC’s action challenges, in both its substantive allegations and its request for an injunction, a regulatory mandate—a reporting requirement—separate from any tax. Or said otherwise, the suit targets not a regulatory tax, but instead a regulation that is not a tax. Here, the tax functions, alongside criminal penalties, only as a sanction for noncom

pliance with the reporting obligation. Had Congress, or theIRS acting through a delegation, imposed a tax on microcaptive transactions themselves—and had CIC then brought a pre-enforcement suit to prevent the IRS from ap

plying that tax—the Anti-Injunction Act would have kicked in. Then, CIC would have had to pay the tax and seek a refund. But Congress and the IRS chose a different path. They imposed a non-tax, reporting obligation to address their concerns about micro-captive agreements. And by that choice, they took suits to enjoin their regulatory re

sponse outside the Anti-Injunction Act’s domain.16 CIC SERVS., LLC v. IRS

Opinion of the Court

III CIC’s suit aims to enjoin a standalone reporting require

ment, whose violation may result in both tax penalties and criminal punishment. That is not a suit “for the purpose of restraining the [IRS’s] assessm ent or collection” of a tax, and so does not trigger the Anti-Injunction Act. We reverse the judgment below and remand the case for further pro

ceedings consistent with this opinion.

It is so ordered._________________

_________________ 1 Cite as: 593 U. S. ____ (2021)

S OTOMAYOR , J., concurring


## SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

No. 19–930

CIC SERVICES, LLC, PETITIONER v. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, ET AL

.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
[May 17, 2021]

J USTICE S OTOMAYOR , concurring. I concur because I agree that CIC Services, a material ad

visor to taxpayers engaged in micro-captive transactions, does not bring this suit “for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax,” 26 U. S. C. §7421(a), but rather for the purpose of avoiding the regulatory bur

dens imposed by Notice 2016–66 (Notice). The three factors identified by the majority, take n in combination, show that this suit falls outside the ambit of the Anti-Injunction Act (AIA): The Notice imposes substantial compliance costs that are unconnected to (and possibly far greater than) CIC Services’ potential tax liability; the causal chain connecting the Notice’s reporting requireme nt to any tax is attenuated; and the Notice is enforced by criminal as well as tax penal

ties. See ante, at 9–13. I write separately to highlight that the answer might be different if CIC Services were a taxpayer instead of a tax advisor. Taxpayers who are subject to reporting require

ments backed by tax penalties face a choice: (1) provide in

formation about their own finances to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which may in turn use that information to calculate the taxpayers’ liability more accurately, or (2) re

fuse to provide such information and pay a noncompliance penalty, which Congress has deemed a tax. For a given tax

payer, then, a tax on noncompliance may operate as a rough2 CIC SERVS., LLC v. IRS

S OTOMAYOR , J., concurring
substitute for the tax liability she has evaded by withhold

ing required information. Moreover, compared with their tax advisors, taxpayers may incur less expense in collecting and reporting their own financial information. Such infor

mation, after all, is about those taxpayers’ own activities and is likely to be in their possession. Hence, while it will often be correct to conclude t hat a tax advisor challenging an IRS reporting requirement is not doing so “for the pur

pose of restraining” a tax on noncompliance, the analysis may be different when it comes to taxpayers. This case provides no occasion for the Court to inquire into the full quantity or variet y of IRS reporting require

ments that are backed by tax penalties, nor to predetermine whether the AIA would allow hypothetical taxpayers to challenge those requirements in court. Whether such suits may proceed will depend on a co ntext-specific inquiry into “the relief the suit requests” and the “aspects of the regula

tory scheme” at issue. Ante, at 7, 9. On that understanding, I concur._________________

_________________ 1 Cite as: 593 U. S. ____ (2021)

K

AVANAUGH , J., concurring


## SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

No. 19–930

CIC SERVICES, LLC, PETITIONER v. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, ET AL

.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
[May 17, 2021]

J USTICE K AVANAUGH , concurring. I join the Court’s opinion in full. I write separately to underscore what remains (and does not remain) of Alexan

der v. “Americans United” Inc. , 416 U. S. 752 (1974), and Bob Jones Univ. v. Simon , 416 U. S. 725 (1974), in the wake of the Court’s decision today. In Americans United and Bob Jones , this Court adopted a straightforward and broad rule for determining whether a pre-enforcement suit is barred by the Anti-Injunction Act. Under that rule, if a pre-enforcement suit would “neces

sarily preclude” the assessment or collection of a tax, that suit is barred by the Act and the taxpayer needs to bring a refund suit after paying the tax. Bob Jones , 416 U. S., at 732; see also Americans United , 416 U. S., at 760–761. In other words, Americans United and Bob Jones instruct courts to look to the effects of a suit. And if a pre-enforce

ment suit would have the effect of preventing the assess

ment or collection of a tax, then that suit is barred by the Anti-Injunction Act. Many courts have taken Americans United and Bob Jones at their word. And the Sixth Circuit did so here. In this case, CIC challenged a regulation that was backed by tax penalties—more specifically, penalties that the Tax Code labels as “taxes” for purposes of the Anti-Injunction Act.2 CIC SERVS., LLC v. IRS

K

AVANAUGH , J., concurring
See 26 U. S. C. §6671(a). Because invalidating the regula

tion at issue would “necessarily preclude” the collection of tax penalties (labeled as “taxes” by the Tax Code) stemming from an individual’s violation of that regulation, the Sixth Circuit concluded that CIC’s pre-enforcement suit was barred by the Anti-Injunction Act under Americans United and Bob Jones . That was a reasonable conclusion to reach, especially given that CIC’s pr imary argument here is the same basic argument that th is Court rejected in both Amer

icans United and Bob Jones . Compare Brief for Respondent in Alexander v. “Americans United” Inc. , O. T. 1973, No. 72– 1371, p. 25 (It “is clear that the ‘purpose’ of this law suit” “is not to restrain the assessment or collection of any tax but to challenge the constitutionality of an essentially reg

ulatory Act of Congress”), with Brief for Petitioner 17 (“The purpose of CIC’s suit” “is to avoid the burdens of the report

ing requirement—not to avoid or dispute any tax liability”). The Court today holds, however, that CIC’s pre-enforce

ment suit is not barred by the Anti-Injunction Act. In so holding, the Court in effect ca rves out a new exception to Americans United and Bob Jones for pre-enforcement suits challenging regulations backed by tax penalties. I agree with the Court’s decision to narrow Americans United and Bob Jones because the broad “effects” rule articulated inthose decisions is hard to square with the text of the AntiInjunction Act, which bars only a pre-enforcement “suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax.” §7421(a). Contrary to some sweeping language in Americans United and Bob Jones , the Anti-Injunction Act is best read as directing courts to look at the stated ob

ject of a suit rather than the suit’s downstream effects. See ante, at 7–8. And for that reason, as the Court explains, the text of the Anti-Injunction Act is best read as distinguishing (i) pre-enforcement suits challenging the regulatory compo

nent of a regulatory tax, which remain prohibited because3 Cite as: 593 U. S. ____ (2021)

K

AVANAUGH , J., concurring
the requested relief necessarily runs against the assess

ment or collection of a tax, from (ii) pre-enforcement suits challenging a regulation backed by a tax penalty, which may proceed because the requested relief runs against an independent legal obligation. In short, as I understand the Court’s opinion today, the rule going forward is that pre-enforcement suits challeng

ing regulatory taxes or tradi tional revenue-raising taxes are still ordinarily barred by the Anti-Injunction Act. But pre-enforcement suits challenging regulations backed by tax penalties are ordinarily not barred, even though those suits, if successful, would necessarily preclude the collec

tion or assessment of what the Tax Code refers to as a tax. With those observations, I join the Court’s opinion in full.