The Nevada Supreme Court found that the Nevada Department of Revenue’s (Department) attempt to ignore its email correspondence with a taxpayer violated “basic notions of justice and fair play.”

A Nevada statute requires that, in order to file a petition for judicial review of a tax deficiency, a taxpayer must first either pay the entire deficiency or enter into a “written agreement” with the Department. Prior to filing its petition, the taxpayer’s counsel communicated with a Department lawyer who responded with an email acknowledging an agreement. Nevertheless, the Department (amazingly) moved to dismiss the petition based on the startling contention that its email correspondence did not constitute a “written agreement.”

The Nevada Supreme Court found that the Department’s argument, that an email did not constitute a “written agreement” was “unpersuasive.” The court determined that the “most natural reading of the email is that the Department had come to an agreement” with the taxpayer. The court stated that a taxpayer should be able to rely on the advice they receive from the Department and that the Department “violated basic notions of justice and fair play.”

Hohl Motorsports, Inc. v. Department of Revenue., No. 87189 (Nev. Feb. 10, 2025).