“You can’t fight city hall” is an old saying. Under a legal doctrine called sovereign immunity, generally, you cannot sue the U.S. government or any government in the U.S. (and win). However, exceptions exist.

When should you fight city hall? When the facts and law present a potentially winnable case. Class actions are the most economic means of handling a problem that impacts a large number of persons. However, ordinarily, class actions are not permitted with respect to tax matters.

If an action of an agency is problematic, there may be a means of attacking the problem short of bringing a lawsuit. In the past, I have had some success in the tax area by writing articles and forwarding them to the Treasury Department. Sometimes, suit is appropriate.