The Tax Practice of IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law

Focus and practice areas

Tax controversy is the main work here. That covers the disputes that begin after a return is filed, when the IRS or a state agency questions what a taxpayer reported. The firm represents individuals and businesses in these matters across the Chicago area and Illinois.

On the federal side, the work includes examinations and audits with the IRS, administrative appeals, penalty abatements, and innocent spouse claims. On the state side, the firm handles audits and appeals with the Illinois Department of Revenue. It also represents tax return preparers, who carry their own exposure when a client's filing is challenged.

Penalty abatement asks the agency to reduce or remove penalties, often on a showing of reasonable cause. Innocent spouse relief is for a person who filed a joint return and now faces tax that traces to a spouse's error or omission. Both come up at the audit and appeals stage, and both turn on documented facts more than argument.

Courts and tribunals the firm uses

When a dispute cannot settle at the administrative stage, it moves to a court or tribunal. The firm litigates in the U.S. Tax Court, the U.S. District Court, and the Illinois Independent Tax Tribunal. Each forum has its own rules about when a taxpayer pays and when a case can be heard.

Tax Court hears many federal disputes before the tax is paid, which matters for a client who cannot write the check up front. District Court cases usually follow payment and a refund claim. The Illinois tribunal handles state matters above a set dollar amount. Picking the forum that fits a given case is part of the early work in any controversy.

Who runs the practice

Jonathan Decatorsmith oversees the practice. He has 30 years in tax law, and he has worked both sides of the table: for taxpayers, and for the government. That background is less common among tax attorneys, and it changes how a case reads from the start.

Before he represented taxpayers, Decatorsmith spent 11 years with the IRS Chief Counsel Office. He worked there as a trial lawyer, a legal advisor, and an internal instructor. In my opinion, time inside the agency that later sits across the table is a practical asset, because it shows how the other side builds and weighs a file.

In 2000 he began representing low-income taxpayers. In 2012 the practice became fee-based and took on a wider client base. The through-line across those years is the same subject: disputes with tax authorities.

Nonprofit and collection work

The firm also works with nonprofit organizations. That work covers forming the organization, applying for tax-exempt qualification, and reinstating exempt status after it has been revoked. It also covers the ongoing compliance that keeps the status in place year to year.

Reinstatement is its own task. An organization that loses exemption, often after missed annual filings, has to petition the IRS and show it has fixed the lapse. The firm handles that petition and the compliance work that comes after.

For taxpayers who owe more than they can pay, the firm handles collection relief. Two of the named tools are offers in compromise, which propose settling a debt for less than the full balance, and levy release, which lifts a hold the IRS has placed on wages or accounts. Both depend on IRS review of a taxpayer's finances.

Who the firm represents

The client base is mixed. Some clients are individuals facing audit notices, penalty questions, or joint-return problems. Others are businesses handling their own examinations and appeals. The firm also takes on nonprofit organizations and tax return preparers, whose matters look different from a standard audit.

Preparer representation is a distinct area. When the IRS examines a preparer's conduct, penalties and, in some cases, the ability to keep preparing returns are at issue. The firm handles that kind of matter alongside the taxpayer disputes, which keeps the practice close to the day-to-day rules that govern how returns get filed.

The law school connection

The practice runs inside a law school, and that shows in how it operates. Decatorsmith supervises students in the school's Tax Clinic, and he teaches doctrinal classes to domestic and international students. Client work and student training happen under the same roof.

As a reviewer, I read that setup as a quiet check on the work. Cases that also become teaching files tend to get documented and explained in plain terms, because a student has to follow the reasoning. A file built to be taught is a file someone else can pick up, and the client gets that same clarity.

The site does not state a founding year, though it dates the low-income advocacy to 2000 and the fee-based practice to 2012. Across that span the firm has stayed with one subject: disputes over what taxpayers owe.