One court-based alternative to contesting your tax bill is the U.S. Tax Court. Based in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Tax Court is an “Article 3” (named for the article of the U.S. Constitution which authorizes its creation) court which hears only federal tax cases.

Because of its special status, the judges of the Tax Court are well-versed in the tax code and have a good understanding of tax and accounting issues. Furthermore, choosing to have your case heard in Tax Court offers one major taxpayer-friendly benefit: you don’t have to pay the tax to appear in this court.

Of course, that benefit can work against you – the imposition of interest and penalties continues while your matter is in process, and it could take a year or more for the case to go to trial. That means an additional year of penalties and interest will be due if you lose.