## Facts

- The IRS assessed Albert and Rose Robinson for unpaid federal income taxes for 1968 and 1969 and filed federal tax liens against their home in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
- The Robinsons filed a quiet-title action against the United States under 28 U.S.C. § 2410(a), seeking to invalidate the liens.
- The Robinsons alleged the IRS failed to follow required procedures because it assessed the taxes and filed liens without first issuing a notice of deficiency.
- For purposes of its motion to dismiss, the United States conceded that no notice of deficiency had been sent.
- The district court dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, characterizing the suit as an impermissible challenge to the underlying tax assessment barred by sovereign immunity.

## Issues

1. Whether 28 U.S.C. § 2410(a) permits a taxpayer to maintain a quiet-title action challenging an IRS tax lien based on procedural defects in the assessment and lien-creation process.
2. Whether alleging failure to issue a notice of deficiency constitutes an impermissible attack on the “merits” of the tax assessment outside § 2410(a)’s waiver of sovereign immunity.

## Decision

- The Third Circuit reversed the dismissal and remanded.
- The court held that § 2410(a) authorizes quiet-title actions challenging the procedural regularity of federal tax liens.
- The court ruled that prior precedent barring challenges to the “merits of an assessment” under § 2410 refers to disputes over the amount of tax due, not to alleged procedural lapses by the IRS.
- Because the claim targeted a conceded failure to follow required procedures (no notice of deficiency), the district court had jurisdiction under § 2410(a) to hear the quiet-title action.

## Legal Principles

- 28 U.S.C. § 2410(a) waives sovereign immunity for certain quiet-title actions involving property subject to a federal tax lien.
- In a § 2410(a) action, a taxpayer may challenge procedural defects in the creation or enforcement of a tax lien.
- A § 2410(a) action may not be used to litigate the substantive correctness of the assessment, including the amount of tax owed.
- Failure to issue a notice of deficiency is a procedural defect that may be scrutinized in a § 2410(a) quiet-title action when the taxpayer is not contesting the amount of liability.

## Conclusion

The Third Circuit held that § 2410(a) permits a quiet-title challenge to IRS tax liens based on procedural noncompliance, including failure to issue a notice of deficiency, because such a claim does not contest the amount of tax owed and therefore falls within the statute’s waiver of sovereign immunity.


Robinson v. United States, 920 F.2d 1157 (3d Cir. 1990)