DocketNumber: Docket No. 15675-11.
Citation Numbers: 141 T.C. 224, 2013 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 25, 141 T.C. No. 5
Judges: Kroupa
Filed Date: 9/18/2013
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 10/19/2024
Decision will be entered for respondent.
R determined that royalty payments from P to its controlled foreign corporation (CFC) were not arm's length under
P had previously repatriated funds from its CFC in transactions unrelated to the royalty payments or adjustments. P claimed a corresponding one-time dividends received deduction under
R determined that the accounts receivable that were deemed established during the testing period constituted an increase in related party indebtedness *26 and disallowed a corresponding amount of the deduction. R issued a deficiency notice. P filed a petition for redetermination.
P contends that the reduction for related party indebtedness applies only to transactions intended to finance dividends. P also asserts that the parties agreed in a closing agreement that P avoids any Federal income tax consequences from establishing the accounts receivable. P also contends that the accounts receivable do not constitute related party indebtedness.
*225 KROUPA,
The parties have stipulated some facts. We incorporate the stipulation of facts and the accompanying exhibits by this reference. Petitioner's principal place of business was Houston, Texas when it filed the petition.
Petitioner is a U.S. corporation that develops and licenses computer software. Petitioner is the common parent of a group of subsidiaries that joined in the filing of a consolidated *28 Federal income tax return for the taxable year ended March 31, 2006. Petitioner is also the parent of non-consolidated foreign affiliates. Petitioner's wholly-owned BMC Software European Holding (BSEH)
Petitioner and BSEH collaboratively developed software. Two cost-sharing agreements (CSAs) governed that relationship. Under the CSAs, they co-owned the software and each held exclusive distribution rights for certain territories. Petitioner terminated the CSAs by agreement in 2002 and took sole ownership of the software. Petitioner agreed to pay future royalties to BSEH and licensed to BSEH the software for distribution. Petitioner paid BSEH royalties required under the CSAs for 2002 through 2006.
Respondent examined the Federal income tax *29 returns petitioner filed for 2002 through 2006. Respondent concluded that the royalty payments between petitioner and BSEH were not arm's length. Petitioner and respondent entered into a closing agreement in 2007 increasing petitioner's income (transfer pricing closing agreement) by $35 million for 2003, $23 million for 2004, $22 million for 2005 and $22 million for 2006 (collectively, primary adjustments). These primary adjustments represented net reductions in royalties *227 petitioner paid BSEH. Respondent executed the transfer closing agreement on August 30, 2007.
The primary adjustments required petitioner to make secondary adjustments to conform its accounts. Those secondary adjustments would have been treated as deemed capital contributions from petitioner to BSEH except that petitioner elected to establish accounts receivable under
The accounts receivable bore interest at the applicable Federal rate. The interest was deductible from BSEH's taxable income and includible in petitioner's taxable income. The parties agreed as follows: BSEH will pay the account receivable, including interest thereon, by intercompany payment. Such payment will be free of the Federal income tax consequences of the secondary adjustments that would otherwise result from the primary adjustment; provided, the payment of the balance of the account, after taking into consideration any prepayment pursuant to section 4.02 of
Petitioner repatriated from BSEH $721 million invested outside the U.S.*31 through a series of transactions between June 29, 2005 and March 31, 2006. Petitioner filed a Form 1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, for 2006. Petitioner claimed $709 million (repatriated dividends) as qualifying for the one-time dividends received deduction under *228
We must decide whether accounts receivable that were deemed established by a closing agreement under
We then consider whether the parties agreed in the accounts receivable closing agreement that repayment of the accounts receivable was free from further Federal income tax consequences. Finally, we consider whether the accounts receivable that were deemed established *33 during the testing period are taken into account when determining related party indebtedness.
We turn to whether petitioner's CFC had increased related party indebtedness as that term is intended in
Our principal task when interpreting a statute is to ascertain and give effect to Congress' intent. The statutory text is the most persuasive evidence of Congressional intent.
We now turn to
The parties dispute whether Congress meant the related party debt rule to apply only to increased indebtedness resulting from intentionally abusive transactions. The related party debt rule provides in pertinent part that the amount of dividends which would * * * be taken into account under subsection (a) shall be reduced by the excess (if any) of-- (A) *36 the amount of indebtedness of the controlled foreign corporation to any related person * * * as of the close of the taxable year for which the election * * * is in effect, over (B) the amount of indebtedness of the controlled foreign corporation to any related person * * * as of the close of October 3, 2004.
Petitioner points to flush language Congress later added conferring authority to issue regulations to prevent transactions that avoid the statute's purposes and exclude dividends attributable to a transfer between the U.S. corporation and its CFC.
Congress did not amend the operative language of
The grant of regulatory authority "supplements existing circular *38 cash flow principles" to stop cash or property transactions that "effectively" fund the dividend.
The flush language therefore does not muzzle the related party debt rule by adding an intent requirement. Rather, Congress authorized regulations to supplement the related party debt rule to address abusive circular transactions. The grant of regulatory authority is ultimately irrelevant here because the adjustments and repayment differ from a circular *232 transaction. Thus, the related party debt rule does not have an intent requirement.
Having determined that the related party debt rule does not include an intent requirement, *39 we now address whether the accounts receivable are indebtedness within the meaning of We now consider the meaning of the term "indebtedness" as it is used in We now consider whether an account receivable established under We next consider petitioner's argument that the accounts receivable, even if indebtedness, should nonetheless be exempt from Respondent argues that the accounts receivable are not trade payables because they were not established in the *42 ordinary course of business or paid within 183 days after the payables were created. We agree. The accounts receivable were created after a In sum, the related party debt rule does not have an intent requirement. The accounts receivable may be indebtedness. We now consider the effect of the accounts receivable closing agreement provision that the payment would be free of the Federal income tax consequences of the secondary adjustments that would otherwise result from the primary adjustment. Petitioner contends that the accounts receivable closing agreement precludes any further Federal income tax consequences resulting from the repayment. The accounts receivable therefore would be excluded when determining the amount of the dividend received deduction. Respondent contends that the accounts receivable closing *43 agreement provision allows petitioner to substitute the tax consequences of the debt secondary adjustment for those of the deemed capital contribution secondary adjustments. Put another way, the accounts receivable would be established for all Federal income tax purposes with petitioner avoiding the consequences of the repayment for a deemed capital contribution. We agree with respondent. The accounts receivable stemmed from the primary adjustment agreed to in the transfer pricing closing agreement. A primary adjustment under The regulations authorize in certain circumstances a taxpayer's " We previously concluded that an account receivable established under We disagreed with the Commissioner that the closing agreement precluded all collateral consequences. Rather, we concluded that the repayment was no longer considered a deemed dividend for Federal income tax purposes. Our holding in Second, the closing agreement determined that the taxpayer avoided the tax consequences of the secondary adjustments absent the election. The collateral consequences would be determined by applying the characterization for all Federal income tax purposes. The closing agreement did not preclude all tax consequences. These principles apply to our interpretation of the accounts receivable closing agreement. We find it significant that "repayment," not the accounts receivable, was free of consequences that "would otherwise" result from the primary adjustment. This indicates that the taxpayer avoids the consequences that would have resulted absent the election. It is undisputed that the deemed capital contribution from petitioner to BSEH was a secondary adjustment that would otherwise *48 have resulted from the primary adjustment. The parties further agree that an eliminated "Federal income tax consequence" of that secondary adjustment included the taxable dividend petitioner would have received upon cash payment from BSEH equal to the deemed capital contribution. Such a secondary adjustment would have been subject to tax with the entire amount consequently included in petitioner's *237 income. It is this adverse tax consequence that the election avoided. Petitioner also argues that We read the accounts receivable closing agreement to mean that petitioner's election relieved it from the tax consequences that would have resulted absent the election. Further, we hold that the accounts receivable are deemed established for all Federal tax purposes. We now address whether there was increased indebtedness during the testing period because the accounts receivable were deemed established after the testing period. Petitioner reasons that the deductible amount should not be retroactively reduced because the accounts receivable were established after petitioner repatriated the funds. Respondent argues, in contrast, that the parties agreed that the accounts receivable were deemed established during the testing period and the amount of dividends eligible for the deduction should accordingly be reduced. We agree with respondent. The Commissioner may enter into a written closing agreement with a taxpayer relating to the liability of the person for any taxable period ending before or after the date of the agreement. The accounts receivable closing agreement determined for all Federal income tax purposes that petitioner would establish interest-bearing accounts receivable from BSEH to petitioner. It further provided that two of the accounts receivable were deemed to have been established during the testing period. We therefore hold that the accounts receivable qualify as indebtedness during the testing period because petitioner and respondent agreed that they were established then. We hold that the accounts receivable constitute indebtedness for the purposes of In reaching these holdings, we have considered all of the parties' arguments, and, to the extent not addressed here, we conclude that they are moot, irrelevant or without merit. To reflect the foregoing,
1. All amounts are rounded to the nearest million dollars.↩
2. All section references are to the Internal Revenue Code for the years at issue, unless otherwise indicated.↩
3. BSEH indirectly owned 100% of issued and outstanding shares of BMC Software Europe, an Irish corporation, and directly owned 100% of BMC SoftwareMauritius, a Mauritius corporation. Each has been treated as an entity disregarded by BSEH for Federal income tax purposes. For the purposes of this matter, we will treat these entities as one and refer only to BSEH.↩
4. The testing period with respect to petitioner is the period between March 31, 2006 and October 3, 2004 because petitioner made the election for the tax year ending March 31, 2006. As discussed below, the testing period is relevant because the amount of dividends eligible for deduction under
5. The deduction is limited to cash dividends that the U.S. corporation reinvested in the United States.
6. Respondent does not dispute that the repatriated dividends satisfied the other requirements of
7. Petitioner emphasizes the following statement: "It is anticipated that dividends would be treated as attributable to a related-party transfer of cash or other property under this authority only in cases in which the transfer is part of an arrangement undertaken with a principal purpose of avoiding the purposes of the related-party debt rule of Code
8. Respondent determined that the 2005 and 2006 accounts receivable increased the related party indebtedness for the testing period. The parties agree that the relevant period is between October 3, 2004 and March 31, 2006, the close of the taxable year for which the election was in effect.↩
9.
10. This provision states in whole that Absent a United States taxpayer's election of treatment under this revenue procedure, an adjustment under
Estate of Magarian v. Commissioner , 97 T.C. 1 ( 1991 )
United States v. American Trucking Associations , 60 S. Ct. 1059 ( 1940 )
Burlington Northern Railroad v. Oklahoma Tax Commission , 107 S. Ct. 1855 ( 1987 )
United States v. Ron Pair Enterprises, Inc. , 109 S. Ct. 1026 ( 1989 )
Dolan v. United States Postal Service , 126 S. Ct. 1252 ( 2006 )
Mississippi Poultry Association, Inc. v. Edward R. Madigan, ... , 992 F.2d 1359 ( 1993 )
BMC Software Inc. v. Commissioner , 141 T.C. No. 5 ( 2013 )