Court Opinion

ID: 9426235
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:17:13.512683+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:59.735281
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Blackmun,
with whom The Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Rehnquist join, dissenting.
Every experienced tax practitioner is aware of the problems of tax collection and tax evasion, and of the frequent need for prompt action on the part of those having responsibility for the protection of the revenues. Every experienced tax practitioner also knows that our Internal Revenue Code is a structured and complicated instrument — perhaps too complex — that deserves careful and historical analysis when, as here, longstanding provisions of that Code are challenged.
The Court in these two cases today gives every evidence of pursuing a quest for what it seems to regard as a desirable or necessary symmetry and, in my view, and *189most unfortunately, indulges in a faulty analysis of the Code’s structure and misinterprets the historical development of the statutes. It is led astray, I fear, by the emotional appeal of the facts in Mrs. Hall’s case, involving, as it does, her husband’s arrest on drug-related charges1 and the seizure by the Internal Revenue Service of Mrs. Hall’s Volkswagen automobile. I have little doubt that if Mr. Laing’s case had come here alone and unfettered by the coincidental appearance of Mrs. Hall’s case, the Court would have denied certiorari to Mr. Laing out of hand or, if not, would readily have affirmed. But Mr. Laing’s case did not arrive alone. Thus the “equities” and the extremes of Mrs. Hall’s case, with their sad overtones, tend to counterbalance, and now have overbalanced, the lack of “equity” in Mr. Laing’s case. The result is that the Internal Revenue Service is deprived of a weapon it has long possessed under the Code and of a device it obviously needs in combatting questionable tax practices and tax evasion by those who do not pay their rightful taxes and who thereby increase the burden of those who do.
It is unfortunate, of course, that the issues are imbedded in a complicated and detailed tax code. Correct analysis, I submit, demands conclusions opposite to those reached by the Court today. I therefore dissent.
I
For an understanding of the purport and reach of § 6851 (a)(1), an examination of the statutory structure of which it is a part is indicated.
A. The customary deficiency procedure. — This is prescribed by Subchapter B of Chapter 63 of the Code under the heading “Assessment.” The term “deficiency” is defined in § 6211 (a), 26 U. S. C. § 6211 (a), *190(1970 ed. and Supp. IV), essentially as the excess of the tax imposed by the Code over the amount of tax shown on the taxpayer’s return as filed. If, however, the taxpayer files no return, or shows no tax on the return he does file, the deficiency is the amount of the tax imposed by the Code. Treas. Reg. § 301.6211-1 (a), 26 CFR §301.6211-1 (a) (1976).
Once the Commissioner determines that a deficiency exists, he “is authorized to send notice of such deficiency to the taxpayer by certified mail or registered mail.” 26 U. S. C. §6212 (a) (1970 ed., Supp. IV). Under § 6213 (a) (1970 ed., Supp. IV), the taxpayer, within 90 days after the mailing of that notice, may file a petition with the United States Tax Court for a redetermination of the deficiency. During this period — and, if a petition is filed with the Tax Court, until that court’s decision has become final — the Commissioner, with one exception hereinafter noted, is precluded from assessing the deficiency, from making a levy, and from proceeding in court for its collection. Any such move on the part of the Internal Revenue Service during that time “may be enjoined by a proceeding in the proper court.” Section 6213 (a) expressly makes the Anti-Injunction Act, § 7421 (a), inapplicable under those circumstances.
The sole exception to this preclusion of the Service during the customary deficiency procedure is also set forth explicitly in § 6213 (a). It is that the preclusion is not effective with respect to a jeopardy assessment under § 6861. No like exception, or reference, however, is made with respect to § 6851, the statute that empowers the Commissioner to terminate the taxpayer’s taxable period when collection of the tax may be in jeopardy.
B. The termination-of-the-taxable-period statute.— This is the above-mentioned, and critical, § 6861, subsection (a)(1) of which is set forth in n. 1 of thé Court’s *191opinion, ante, at 163. The statute constitutes the entire Part I of Subchapter A (Jeopardy) of Chapter 70 of the Code.
Our income tax system is primarily a self-reporting and self-assessment one. It is “based upon voluntary assessment and payment, not upon distraint.” Flora v. United States, 362 U. S. 146, 176 (1960). See Helvering v. Mitchell, 303 U. S. 391, 399 (1938); Treas. Reg. § 601.103 (a), 26 CPR § 601.103 (a) (1975). Congress, nonetheless, early recognized that there would be instances where the Service must take immediate affirmative action in order to safeguard the collection of a tax.2 Section 6851 (a) (1) fulfills this congressional concern and permits the District Director, see Treas. Reg. § 1.6851-1 (a), 26 CFR § 1.6851-1 (a) (1975), to terminate the taxable period if he finds that the taxpayer designs an act tending to prejudice or render ineffectual the collection of income tax for the current or the preceding tax year.3 When this is done, notice of the termination must be given the taxpayer together with a demand for immediate payment of the tax for the taxable period so terminated. The tax thereupon becomes immediately due and payable.4
*192Section 6851, standing alone, however, is not sufficient for a collection procedure because it does not contain its own assessment authority. The statute provides simply for the termination of the taxable period prematurely, and the authority must be found elsewhere in the statutory scheme.5
That assessment authority is granted by § 6201 (a) of the Code, 26 U. S. C. § 6201 (a).6 This empowers the Commissioner “to make . . . assessments of all taxes . . . imposed by this title.” An assessment is made by recording the liability of the taxpayer in the Service’s books of account. § 6203. If, after demand, the taxpayer fails to pay, the Commissioner may invoke § 6321, which provides that the amount shall be a lien in favor of the United States upon the property of the taxpayer. The Service has power, after 10 days’ notice and demand in a non jeopardy situation, to collect the tax by levy and distraint. § 6331 (1970 ed. and Supp. IY).
*193Section 6851 (b) permits the Service to reopen the terminated taxable period each time the taxpayer is found to have received income within the current taxable year but since the termination. Similarly, the taxpayer himself may reopen the terminated period if he files “a true and accurate return.” Under § 6851 (e), the taxpayer may avoid early collection by furnishing a bond to insure the timely making of a return and the payment of the tax.
Nowhere in these several subsections of § 6851 does the word “deficiency” appear. The section contains no words of authorization or requirement that the Commissioner issue a notice of deficiency. Seemingly, once the tax is made immediately due by termination of the taxable period, the Commissioner may exercise his general assessment authority and proceed forthwith to collect through lien, levy, and distraint.
C. The jeopardy-assessment statute. — This, so far as income, estate, and gift taxes are concerned, all of which require returns, is § 6861 of the Code, 26 U. S. C. § 6861.7 It and the three succeeding sections constitute Part II (Jeopardy Assessments) of Subchapter A (Jeopardy) of Chapter 70 of the Code. Section 6861, like § 6851 (a), is designed to achieve collection under exigent circumstances.
Section 6861 is invoked only after the date upon which the tax for the full year is due. This stands in contrast *194to § 6851 (a), which permits premature termination of the taxable period. In other words, § 6851 (a) serves to advance the time when a tax becomes due and payable, whereas § 6861 serves to advance the time for collection of a tax already due. Jeopardy to collection lies in the background of both situations and triggers the invocation of either statute.
In sharp contrast with § 6851 (a), § 6861 (a) refers specifically to a “deficiency,” as that term is defined in § 6211. The further reference in § 6861 (a) to § 6213 (a) is of significance. Section 6213 (a), as has been noted, provides for the filing by the taxpayer with the Tax Court of a petition for redetermination of the deficiency. By its reference to § 6213 (a), § 6861 (a) thus authorizes a jeopardy assessment, despite the available path for the taxpayer to the Tax Court and despite the presence of the otherwise operative preclusion provisions of § 6213 (a). Also, it confirms that a jeopardy assessment made under § 6861 (a) is reviewable in the Tax Court. That this is so is convincingly demonstrated by the additional fact that § 6861 (b) provides that if a jeopardy assessment is made before the mailing of any notice of deficiency, the Commissioner shall mail a notice within 60 days after the making of the assessment. Thus, although the Service in such a jeopardy situation is not restrained from immediate levy and collection, the taxpayer is nevertheless assured his relatively prompt access to the Tax Court for redetermination of the deficiency. In addition, under § 6863 (a), 26 U. S. C. § 6863 (a), the taxpayer may post a proper bond and thereby stay collection. And, absent specified exigent circumstances, sale of property seized for collection is not to be effected during the period of Tax Court review. § 6863 (b)(3).
D. The Federal Anti-Injunction Act. — This statute, *195§ 7421 (a), generally prohibits suits to restrain assessment or collection of tax. It reads:
“Except as provided in sections 6212 (a) and (c), 6213 (a), and 7426 (a) and (b)(1), no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be maintained in any court by any person, whether or not such person is the person against whom such tax was assessed.”
The statute had its origin over a century ago in § 10 of the Revenue Act of Mar. 2, 1867, 14 Stat. 475.8 See Rev. Stat. § 3224. It was enacted to prevent in the federal system the type of injunctive suits that had plagued tax collections by the States. The Court has recognized the congressional concern underlying the statute, namely, that if courts were to exercise injunctive power with respect to the collection of taxes, the Government's very existence could be threatened. See Cheatham v. United States, 92 U. S. 85, 89 (1876); State Railroad Tax Cases, 92 U. S. 575, 613 (1876); Snyder v. Marks, 109 U. S. 189, 193-194 (1883); Bob Jones University v. Simon, 416 U. S. 725, 736-737 (1974). The statute has been uniformly applied to bar suits before collection except in certain specific and delimited circumstances.
The first exception to the statute's bar is spelled out in the initial words of § 7421 (a) itself: the Act does not preclude injunctive suits within the contemplation of §§ 6212 (a) and (c) and 6213(a). These sections, as has been seen, concern situations where a notice of deficiency is required and where jurisdiction of the United States Tax Court is thereby afforded.
*196The second exception is also spelled out in the prefatory words of § 7421 (a): the Act does not apply to an injunctive suit within th@ contemplation of §§ 7426 (a) and (b)(1), 26 U. S. C. §§ 7426 (a) and (b)(1). These sections, however, concern a civil action instituted by a person other than the taxpayer, such as a person claiming a prior lien, and have no possible application here. See Bob Jones University v. Simon, 416 U. S., at 731-732, n. 6.
The third exception is of judicial origin. The Court, in Enochs v. Williams Packing Co., 370 U. S. 1, 7 (1962), observed that “if it is clear that under no circumstances could the Government ultimately prevail, the central purpose of the Act is inapplicable and . . . the attempted collection may be enjoined if equity jurisdiction otherwise exists.” This obviously is a very narrow exception and is subject to a twofold test: a clear indication that the Government cannot prevail, and the presence of an equity consideration in the sense of threat of irreparable injury for which there is no adequate legal remedy. The Court recently reaffirmed the Williams Packing exception in Bob Jones University v. Simon, supra, and in Commissioner v. “Americans United” Inc., 416 U. S. 752 (1974). It noted that a somewhat different attitude had been evident in the 1930’s. See Miller v. Standard Nut Margarine Co., 284 U. S. 498 (1932), and Allen v. Regents of the University System of Georgia, 304 U. S. 439 (1938).
There is no question, of course, that the present suits instituted by petitioner Laing and respondent Hall are actions to restrain the collection or enforcement of tax, within the meaning of § 7421 (a). These parties, however, do not contend that the Williams Packing exception is applicable to their respective cases. I necessarily agree that the exception affords Mr. Laing and *197Mrs. Hall no avenue of relief, for there is no indication in the records that on the merits the Government under no circumstances could prevail.9
II
This review of the statutory structure clearly reveals the following:
1. The congressionally intended normal procedure is to allow the taxpayer, if he desires it, some “breathing space” prior to exaction of the additional tax that is claimed. The avenue provided to accomplish this result is the route to the Tax Court where the issues, factual and legal, may be resolved prior to collection. This avoids the necessity of the taxpayer’s disgorgement of funds, to his current financial detriment, even though he might ultimately prevail and recoup by refund all or a substantial part of the amount he pays. The choices the taxpayer makes, and the risks he assumes, by this route, include the forgoing of trial of the factual issues by a jury, having his trial before a specialist judge not assigned to the taxpayer’s local district, and the accruing of interest on any deficiency ultimately redetermined, § 6601 (a), 26 U. S. C. § 6601 (a) (1970 ed., Supp. IV). If he selects the other route, that is, payment of the asserted deficiency, filing claim for refund, and suit, the taxpayer (if he chooses the district court rather than the Court of Claims) has his case tried before a United States district judge of his own district, with a jury available, *198and it is the Government, not the taxpayer, that bears the burden of accruing interest, § 6611, 26 U. S. C. § 6611 (1970 ed., Supp. IV).
2. Despite this available avenue of litigation in the Tax Court before payment, and its use by the taxpayer after a notice of deficiency is issued, the Commissioner nonetheless may assess and collect, subject to the taxpayer’s fulfillment of prescribed conditions, in a jeopardy situation. § 6861. This enables the Government to protect the revenues, but at the same time the path to the Tax Court is preserved for the taxpayer.
3. Jeopardy collection power is also vested in the Commissioner during the taxpayer’s taxable, period before his tax for the year can be determined. § 6851 (a). This, too, protects the revenues.
4. Both § 6861 and § 6851 are directed to critical and exigent circumstances. In this respect, neither statute is a part of the normal assessment and collection process. The one, § 6861, the “ordinary” jeopardy-assessment provision, operates within that usual procedure and while it is underway. The other, § 6851, however, operates separate and apart from that procedure and, indeed, inasmuch as the taxable year is not at an end, or a return for it is not yet overdue, before that procedure can get underway at all.
5. It would seem to follow, then, that §§ 6861 and 6851, although they are similar in character and although both are directed at emergency situations, are separate and distinct. Of the two, § 6851 is the more extreme and perilous, for its impact comes in midstream, that is, during the taxable year rather than after its close and a return for it has been filed. See Ludwig Littauer & Co. v. Commissioner, 37 B. T. A. 840, 842 (1938) (reviewed by the Board).
6. Because § 6851 is concerned with the situation prior to the overdue date for the filing of the year’s return, that *199is, with premature termination of a taxable period, at a time when the computation of the tax for the full year cannot be made or not yet has been made, it is clear that no deficiency as such can be ascertained, that no notice of deficiency can be issued, and that none is required. These terms and concepts have no sensible application and relationship to the § 6851 procedure.
Ill
The foregoing analysis and conclusion that a notice of deficiency is not required when a taxable period is prematurely terminated under § 6851, despite the Court’s disavowal, is confirmed by the legislative history. This history demonstrates that §§ 6851 and 6861, although now consecutively placed in the.present Code, are discrete and independent provisions, with the consequehces that assessment authority for a termination under § 6851 does not derive from § 6861, as the taxpayers here assert and the Court is now led to believe, and that assessment following termination of a taxable period was not intended to be subject to review by the Tax Court.
As is often the case in tax matters, the successive Revenue Acts primarily present the pertinent legislative history.
The provision allowing premature termination of a taxable period where collection was feared jeopardized first appeared as § 250 (g) of the Revenue Act of 1918, 40 Stat. 1084.10 The language of § 250 (g) ob*200viously comports substantially with the language of the current §6851 (a). An assessment for a terminated period was made under the general assessment authority provided by Rev. Stat. § 3182. Judicial review at that time could be obtained only after payment of the tax and by way of a refund suit in the United States district court or in the Court of Claims. Rev. Stat. § 3226. See 28 U. S. C. § 1346 (a)(1).
Section 6861, on the other hand, evolved independently and initially with the Revenue Act of 1921. It was born as a proviso to § 250 (d) of that Act. 42 Stat. 266. Section. 250 (d) established an administrative appeal procedure for resolution of taxpayer disputes; assessment of a deficiency could not be made pending final decision on the administrative appeal. This deferral, however, was not compelled where the Commissioner determined that collection was in jeopardy; when he so determined, assessment could be made immediately. Despite this introduction by the 1921 Act of the administrative appeal procedure, § 250 (g) of the 1918 Act, providing for termination of the taxable period, was continued as *201§ 250 (g) of the 1921 Act, 42 Stat. 267, without any change material here and without reference to the newly established administrative appeal procedure. See S. Rep. No. 275, 67th Cong., 1st Sess., 20-21 (1921). And the assessment authority continued to be provided only by Rev. Stat. § 3182.
Congress soon recognized that taxpayers might not be convinced of the impartiality of an administrative appeal within the then Bureau of Internal Revenue. Accordingly, by § 900 of the Revenue Act of 1924, 43 Stat. 336, the Board of Tax Appeals was created as an independent agency in the Executive Branch. The taxpayer, prior to payment of his tax, could obtain a review in the Board whenever the Commissioner disagreed with the amount of tax reported. See H. R. Rep. No. 179, 68th Cong., 1st Sess., 7-8 (1924). The Board, however, was given only limited jurisdiction; it was confined to deficiencies in income, estate, and gift taxes and to claims for abatement of deficiencies. Revenue Act of 1924, §§ 900 (e), 274, 279, 308, 312, and 324, 43 Stat. 337, 297, 300, 308, 310, and 316. Review of the Commissioner’s termination of a taxable period, however, was not cognizable before the Board. Under § 282 of the 1924 Act, 43 Stat. 302, the taxpayer whose taxable period was terminated could avoid immediate collection only by furnishing security that he would make a timely return and pay the tax when due.
The 1924 Act also introduced a more precise definition of the term “deficiency” to supplant the definition contained in the 1921 Act.11 The néw definition, contained in the 1924 Act’s §§273 (1) and (2), 43 Stat. 296, is virtually identical to the present definition in § 6211 (a) *202of the 1954 Code and in Treas. Reg. § 301.6211-1, 26 CFR §301.6211-1 (1975). The committee reports described this new definition in terms that indicate that a deficiency could not be determined until the time for filing the return had arrived, that is, until a date after the close of the taxable year. See H. R. Rep. No. 179, 68th Cong., 1st Sess., 24 (1924); S. Rep. No.. 398, 68th Cong., 1st Sess., 30 (1924). There was nothing indicating that the Congress intended that the definition of “deficiency” was to encompass the amount declared due and payable upon the termination of a taxable period. The exception for the situation where collection after the close of the taxable year and after the passing of the due date for the filing of the return would be jeopardized by delay, however, was carried forward to the Board review created by the 1924 Act, and the Commissioner could immediately assess and collect notwithstanding the taxpayer’s ability to go to the Board. Revenue Act of 1924, §§ 274 (d) and 279, 43 Stat. 297 and 300.
The Revenue Act of 1926, 44 Stat. 9, filled some interstices of Board jurisdiction. Direct appeal of Board decisions to the then circuit courts of appeals was provided. § 1001 (a), 44 Stat. 109. The Board was given jurisdiction to determine that the taxpayer had overpaid his tax as well as to determine that a deficiency existed. The definition of “deficiency” remained the same. § 273, 44 Stat. 55. Thus, the taxpayer whose taxable period was prematurely terminated still could not go to the Board.
The Revenue Acts following the 1926 Act, until and including the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, 53 Stat. pt. 1, effected no significant change in the termination or jeopardy-assessment provisions or in the jurisdiction of the Board of Tax Appeals.
The 1954 Code culminated the legislative development of §§ 6861 and 6851 and provided the current section *203designations. Two minor changes were made in the statutes that are pertinent here, but neither altered the jurisdictional framework of the Tax Court which, by § 504 of the Revenue Act of 1942, 56 Stat. 957, had supplanted the Board of Tax Appeals. The first was the amendment of the termination statute, § 6851, by the addition of its present subsection (b). This permitted the reopening of the terminated taxable period either by the Commissioner or by the taxpayer. See Treas. Reg. §§ 1.6851-1 (b) and (c), 26 CFR §§ 1.6851-1 (b) and (c) (1975); H. R. Rep. No. 1337, 83d Cong., 2 Sess., A421 (1954); S. Rep. No. 1622, 83d Cong., 2d Sess., 597 (1954). The second change was the addition of §6863 (b)(3) to authorize a stay of the sale of property seized after a jeopardy assessment under § 6861 pending decision by the Tax Court. No similar stay was made explicitly available with respect to the termination provisions of § 6851.
This legislative history particularly reinforces two aspects of the conclusions, drawn above, upon analysis of only the language of the presently effective statutes:
The first is the inescapable fact that the assessment authority for an amount made “immediately due and payable” under § 6851 (a) is not § 6861 but is the general authority granted by § 6201. Indeed, during the time the Revenue Act of 1918 was in effect, that is, until the Revenue Act of 1921 was adopted, only § 685 l’s predecessor was in existence; the predecessor of § 6861 had not yet appeared. Thus, I disagree with the suggestions contained in Clark v. Campbell, 501 F. 2d 108, 121 (CA5 1974), in Rambo v. United States, 492 F. 2d 1060, 1064 (CA6 1974), and in Schreck v. United States, 301 F. Supp. 1265, 1273 (Md. 1969), that the placement of § 6861 in the Code immediately following § 6851 served to establish a new procedure mandatory for a proceeding under § 6851. That approach is expressly *204foreclosed, in any event, by § 7806 (b) of the 1954 Code, 26 U. S. C. § 7806 (b), providing that no inference shall be drawn by reason of the location or grouping of any particular section or portion of the tax title of the Code. See United States v. Ryder, 110 U. S. 729, 740 (1884); Aberdeen & Rockfish R. Co. v. SCRAP, 422 U. S. 289, 309 n. 12 (1975). The Commissioner’s power to terminate a taxable period under § 6851 and then to assess under § 6201 is not at all dependent upon § 6861, and there is no basis for the incorporation of the notice-of-deficiency requirement of § 6861 (b) into § 6851.
Not only do §§ 6851 and 6861 have separate and independent origins and dates of birth, but their legislative developments in subsequent years are distinctly different. Dealing with jeopardy situations in disparate ways, the statutes should be considered as independent and not as one provision tied to the requirements of the other.
Secondly, the legislative evolution of the two sections and the creation of the Board of Tax Appeals demonstrate that an amount assessed pursuant to a § 6851 termination is not a “deficiency” within the meaning of § 6211. A glance at the 1921 Act reveals the establishment and existence of the administrative appeal which was the predecessor of the later independent review in the Board of Tax Appeals. Section 250 (b) of that Act defined “deficiency” as the difference between “the amount already paid” and “that which should have been paid.” When a taxable year is prematurely terminated, the tax “which should have been paid” is indeterminable because none was required to have been paid by that time. Thus, the deficiency concept was inapplicable to an assessment made for a terminated period. No notice of deficiency would be issued for the period, and the administrative appeal under the 1921 Act would not be available.
*205Exactly the same analysis applies to the definition of “deficiency” under the 1954 Code. Prior to the end of the taxable year neither the Commissioner nor the taxpayer is able to ascertain the tax imposed by the Code. A “deficiency” cannot be determined before the close of a taxable year. The requirement that a notice of deficiency be issued, therefore, does not apply to a § 6851 (a) termination of a taxable period.12
I therefore conclude that the Commissioner is not required to issue a notice of deficiency to a taxpayer whose taxable period is terminated pursuant to the provisions of § 6851 (a) of the Code. The statutory scheme does not require this, and the legislative history demonstrates that an assessment pursuant to a termination does not give rise to a “deficiency.” From this it follows that, as a statutory matter, the Anti-Injunction Act, § 7421 (a) of the Code, bars the suits by petitioner Laing and respondent Hall to enjoin the assessment and collection of taxes for their respective terminated taxable periods. This conclusion, of course, is not an end to the cases, for there remain the question of remedy available to persons in their position and the constitutional issue that is thereby raised.
The courts that have arrived at a result contrary to the one I reach on the statutory issue have sug*206gested that this result would produce “significant constitutional problems.” Rambo v. United States, 492 F. 2d, at 1064-1065. See also Schreck v. United States, 301 F. Supp., at 1281. This constitutional reservation has been prompted by the concern that if a notice of deficiency is not required for a terminated taxable period, the taxpayer does not have the benefit of immediate access to the Tax Court.
To be sure, as has been noted above, Tax Court jurisdiction to determine liability prior to payment is predicated upon the existence of a “deficiency,” within the meaning of § 6211 (a), and upon the Commissioner's formal issuance of a notice of deficiency pursuant to § 6212 (a). As a result, notices of deficiency have been described as “ ‘tickets to the tax court.’ ” Corbett v. Frank, 293 F. 2d 501, 502 (CA9 1961). See Mason v. Commissioner, 210 F. 2d 388 (CA5 1954). But this lack of access to the Tax Court by the taxpayer who finds himself in a terminated taxable period situation does not mean that he is without effective judicial remedy to challenge the Commissioner’s action. Lack of access to the Tax Court does not equate with a denial of Fifth Amendment due process if due process is otherwise available. And it is at once apparent that the taxpayer has a variety of remedies to test the validity of the Commissioner’s action:
First, a refund suit is possible. Once there is a seizure of any property of the taxpayer in satisfaction of the assessment for the terminated period, the taxpayer may file a claim for refund either by filing the formal claim (Form 843) or by making a short-period return and showing an amount due that is less than the amount seized. See Rogan v. Mertens, 153 F. 2d 937 (CA9 1946). See also Treas. Reg. § 301.6402-3 (a) (1), 26 CFR §301.-6402-3 (a)(1) (1975). The Commissioner, of course, has *207up to six months to process the claim. §§ 6532 (a) and 7422 (a) of the Code, 26 U. S. C. §§ 6532 (a) and 7422 (a). Immediately upon denial of the claim, or upon the expiration of six months with no action by the Commissioner,13 the taxpayer may commence suit for refund in the district court or in the Court of Claims. See 28 U. S. C. § 1346 (a)(1). The jurisdiction of these courts over a refund suit does not depend upon the existence of a formally asserted “deficiency,” as does the jurisdiction of the Tax Court.
Second, the taxpayer subject to a § 6851 termination may await the end of his taxable year and then file a full-year return and claim an overpayment and refund and in due course seek relief in court. See Irving v. Gray, 479 F. 2d 20, 24 (CA2 1973).
Third, the taxpayer again may await the end of the taxable year and file a full-year return. The Commissioner may then determine that additional tax is due and, if so, the statutory definition of a “deficiency” will be met and a notice of deficiency will issue. When this happens, the taxpayer is in a position to seek a redetermi-nation in the Tax Court, contesting the additional tax so asserted or claiming an overpayment for the year.
Although a taxpayer whose taxable period is terminated thus may not gain immediate access to the Tax Court, he does have available appropriately prompt avenues of relief principally in the district court or in the Court of Claims. There is, of course, no constitutional *208requirement that every tax dispute be adjudicable in the Tax Court. In fact, that court’s jurisdiction is limited to income, estate, and gift taxes.
It must be made clear that, whether the taxpayer whose taxable period has been terminated files a short-period refund claim or one for a full taxable year, he still may sue for refund even if the value of the property seized is less than the amount of the assessment made against him. There is no requirement in this situation that he pay the full amount of the assessment before he may claim and sue for a refund.
At this point, Flora v. United States, 357 U. S. 63 (1958), on rehearing, 362 U. S. 145 (1960), deserves comment. In that case the Court held that a federal district court does not have jurisdiction of an action for refund of a part payment made by a taxpayer on an assessment. It ruled that the taxpayer must pay the full amount of the assessment before he may challenge its validity in the court action. Payment of the entire deficiency thus was made a prerequisite to the refund suit. The ruling, however, was tied directly to the jurisdiction of the Tax Court where litigation prior to payment of the tax was the usual order of the day. 362 U. S., at 158-163. The holding thus kept clear and distinct the line between Tax Court jurisdiction and district court jurisdiction. The Court said specifically:
“A word should also be said about the argument that requiring taxpayers to pay the full assessments before bringing suits will subject some of them to great hardship. This contention seems to ignore entirely the right of the taxpayer to appeal the deficiency to the Tax Court without paying a cent.” Id., at 175.
This passage demonstrates that the full-payment rule applies only where a deficiency has been noticed, that is, *209only where the taxpayer has access to the Tax Court for redetermination prior to payment. This is the thrust of the ruling in Flora, which was concerned with the possibility, otherwise, of splitting actions between, and overlapping jurisdiction of, the Tax Court and the district court. Id., at 163, 165-167, 176. Where, as here, in these terminated period situations, there is no deficiency, and no consequent right of access to the Tax Court, there is and can be no requirement of full payment in order to institute a refund suit. The taxpayer may sue for his refund even if he is unable to pay the full amount demanded upon the termination of his taxable period. Irving v. Gray, 479 F. 2d, at 24-25, n. 6; Lewis v. Sandler, 498 F. 2d 395, 400 (CA4 1974).
I recognize that on occasion the refund procedure may cause some hardship for the terminated taxpayer whose entire assets may be seized and who may be required to wait as long as six months before filing his refund suit. Indeed, this hardship was one of the reasons for establishing the Board of Tax Appeals as a prepayment forum in the first place. See H. R. Rep. No. 179, 68th Cong., 1st Sess., 7 (1924); S. Rep. No. 398, 68th Cong., 1st Sess., 8 (1924).14 It is obvious, of course, that when one tax*210payer dishonestly evades his share of the tax burden, that share is shifted to all those who comply with the law. This balance of “hardship” doubtless was in the minds of those who formulated the statutory structure.
It has long been established, moreover, that there is no constitutional requirement for a prepayment forum to adjudicate a dispute over the collection of a tax. Phillips v. Commissioner, 283 U. S. 589, 595-596 (1931). There, in an opinion by Mr. Justice Brandéis, the Court unanimously held that the taxing authorities may lawfully seize property for payment of taxes in summary proceedings prior to an adjudication of liability where “adequate opportunity is afforded for a later judicial determination of the legal rights.” Id., at 595. See Fuentes v. Shevin, 407 U. S. 67, 91-92, and n. 24 (1972).
In Phillips the Court noted the availability of two alternative mechanisms for judicial review in that particular situation: a refund action, or immediate redetermi-nation of liability by the Board of Tax Appeals. In response, however, to a complaint by the taxpayer there that if the Board remedy were sought, collection would not be stayed unless a bond were filed, Mr. Justice Brandéis dismissed the contention with the observation:
“[I]t has already been shown that the right of the United States to exact immediate payment and to *211relegate the taxpayer to a suit for recovery, is paramount. The privilege of delaying payment pending immediate judicial review, by filing a bond, was granted by the sovereign as a matter of grace solely for the convenience of the taxpayer.” 283 U. S., at 599-600.
Thus, the Court made clear that a prepayment forum was not a requirement of due process. I see no reason whatsoever to depart from that rule in these cases, where the taxpayer may file an action for refund after at most six months from the seizure of his assets or other action taken by the IRS under § 6851.
Accordingly, I dissent. I would affirm the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in No. 73-1808, and I would reverse the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in No. 74 — 75 and remand that case to the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky with directions to dismiss the complaint.

 Mr. Hall evidently was convicted. Tr. of Oral Arg. 45.

 See n. 10, infra.

 The reference in the statute to the “preceding taxable year” enables the Commissioner to exercise the termination power after the close of the preceding year but prior to the filing of the return for that year. See,' e. g., Irving v. Gray, 479 F. 2d 20, 25 (CA2 1973); United States v. Johansson, 62-1 U. S. T. C. 83197 (SD Fla. 1961), aff’d in part and remanded, 336 F. 2d 809 (CA5 1964).

 A return for a taxable period terminated under § 6851 (a), and called for by §443 (a)(3), is to be distinguished, despite the confusing use of the term “taxable year” in § 443 (a) (3), from a return for what is a true and self-constituted short period of the kind to which §§443 (a)(1) and (2) relate, that is, the interim period occasioned by a change in the taxpayer’s annual accounting period, *192or when the taxpayer is in existence during only part of the entire taxable year.

 The Government, on at least one occasion in the past, has contended that § 6851 did contain its own assessment authority. See Sckreck v. United States, 301 F. Supp. 1265, 1276 (Md. 1969). In the present cases, however, the Government states that the statute does not go so far. Brief for United States 20.

 Section 6201 (a) reads in pertinent part:
“The Secretary or his delegate is authorized and required to make the inquiries, determinations, and assessments of all taxes (including interest, additional amounts, additions to the tax, and assessable penalties) imposed by this title, or accruing under any former internal revenue law, which have not been duly paid by stamp at the time and in the manner provided by law.”
Respondent Hall suggests that § 6201 (a) by its terms is confined to taxes paid by stamp. I read the statute otherwise, for I regard the reference to payment effected “by stamp” as exclusive, rather than restrictive, of the assessment power.

 Section 6861 (a) reads:
“If the Secretary or his delegate believes that the assessment or collection of a deficiency, as defined in section 6211, will be jeopardized by delay, he shall, notwithstanding the provisions of section 6213 (a), immediately assess such deficiency (together with all interest, additional amounts, and additions to the tax provided for by law), and notice and demand shall be made by the Secretary or his delegate for the payment thereof.”

 “That section nineteen [of the Act of July 13, 1866, 14 Stat. 152] is hereby amended by adding the following thereto: ‘And no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of tax shall be maintained in any court.’ ”

I do not foreclose the possibility that in some case the Service's action in terminating a taxable period would come within the Williams Packing exception if the termination were so fictitious and without foundation that under no circumstances could the Government prevail on the merits. This view was taken by the Fifth Circuit in Willits v. Richardson, 497 F. 2d 240 (1974). See generally Note, Use of I. R. C. Section 6851: Exaction in the Guise of a Tax?, 6 Loyola U. L. J. 139, 151-158 (1975).

 “If the Commissioner finds that a taxpayer designs quickly to depart from the United States or to remove his property therefrom, or to conceal himself or his property therein, or to do any other act tending to prejudice or to render wholly or partly ineffectual proceedings to collect the tax for the taxable year then last past or the taxable year then current unless such proceedings be brought without delay, the Commissioner shall declare the taxable period for such taxpayer terminated at the end of the calendar month *200then last past and shall cause notice of such finding and declaration to be given the taxpayer, together with a demand for immediate payment of the tax for the taxable period so declared terminated and of the tax for the preceding taxable year or so much of said tax as is unpaid, whether or not the time otherwise allowed by law for filing return and paying the tax has expired; and such taxes shall thereupon become immediately due and payable. In any action or suit brought to enforce payment of taxes made due and payable by virtue of the provisions of this subdivision the finding of the Commissioner, made as herein provided, whether made after notice to the taxpayer or not, shall be for all purposes presumptive evidence of the taxpayer’s design.”
The presence of § 250 (g) so soon after the inception of the modern federal income tax in 1913, see the Sixteenth Amendment and the Tariff Act of Oct. 3, 1913, § II, 38 Stat. 166, discloses Congress’ early and continuing concern with tax evasion.

 Section 250 (b) of the Revenue Act of 1921, 42 Stat. 265, had defined “deficiency” as the difference between “the amount already paid” and “that which should have been paid.”

 The Tax Court itself consistently has denied jurisdiction on its part over a period terminated under § 6851 (a), and has done so on the ground that the termination results in “but a provisional statement of the amount which must be presently paid as a protection against the impossibility of collection.” Ludwig Littauer & Co. v. Commissioner, 37 B. T. A. 840, 842 (1938) (reviewed by the Board). See Puritan Church—The Church of America v. Commissioner, 10 T. C. M. 485, 494 (1951), aff’d, 93 U. S. App. D. C. 129, 209 F. 2d 306 (1953), cert. denied, 347 U. S. 975 (1954); Jones v. Commissioner, 62 T. C. 1 (1974). See also Page v. Commissioner, 297 F. 2d 733 (CA8 1962).

 The six-month period, of course, is the maximum, not the minimum. Petitioner Laing, in fact, filed a claim for refund on March 1, 1973. It was denied just eight days later, on March 9. He was then in a position to sue and did so. Brief for Petitioner Laing 34 n. 11; Brief for United States 7 n. 4.
The maximum six months’ wait, in order to accommodate the administrative operation, surely is not per se unconstitutional. See Dodge v. Osborn, 240 U. S. 118, 122 (1916).

I have no hesitancy in recognizing that there is a possibility of abuse in the jeopardy-assessment system. See Note, Narcotics Offenders and the Internal Revenue Code: Sheathing the Section 6851 Sword, 28 Vand. L. Rev. 363 (1975); Note, Jeopardy Terminations Under Section 6851: The Taxpayer’s Rights and Remedies, 60 Iowa L. Rev. 644 (1975); Silver, Terminating the Taxpayer’s Taxable Year: How IRS Uses it Against Narcotics Suspects, 40 J. of Tax. 110 (1974); Note, Jeopardy Assessment: The Sovereign’s Stranglehold, 55 Geo. L. J. 701 (1967); Willits v. Richardson, 497 F. 2d 240, 246 (CA5 1974). But this possibility is also present with respect to a jeopardy assessment under § 6861. And it is present, too, perhaps -with even greater force, in those tax situations (excise, FICA, etc.) where jurisdiction of the Tax Court does, not exist and the taxpayer has no ability to litigate prior to payment or seizure. These dif*210fering degrees of tax comfort, in my view, do not render the system, or parts of it, unconstitutional. Prior to 1924, as has been pointed out, there was no prepayment forum at all.
I do not condone abuse in tax collection. The records of these two cases do not convincingly demonstrate abuse, although Mrs. Hall’s situation, as it developed after the initial critical moves by the Service, makes one wonder. I have no such concern whatsoever about Mr. Laing. In any event, abuse is subject to rectification otherwise, and the Congress and the courts surely will not be unsympathetic. Cf. Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents, 403 U. S. 388 (1971).