DocketNumber: Tax Ct. Dkt. No. 6544-97
Judges: BEGHE
Filed Date: 10/22/1998
Status: Non-Precedential
Modified Date: 4/18/2021
An order will be issued granting in part and denying in part petitioner's motion for partial summary judgment, as supplemented, and denying respondent's cross-motion for partial summary judgment.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
BEGHE, JUDGE: This matter is before the Court on petitioner's motion for partial summary judgment, as supplemented (petitioner's motion), and respondent's cross-motion for partial summary judgment under
With respect to IFNB's consumer, commercial, and agricultural short-term loans made to its customers, we follow our decisions in
With respect to the certificates of deposit (CD's) and time deposits owned by IFNB in 1986, we deny petitioner's motion and respondent's cross-motion. Respondent's arguments with respect to the CD's and time deposits raise questions of fact regarding banking and commercial practices. These questions must be resolved by a trial or obviated by agreement of the parties, before we can decide whether the rule of law we first expressed in
The background facts set forth below are derived from the pleadings in this case, petitioner's request for admission, respondent's responses to petitioner's request, the affidavit and exhibits attached to petitioner's motion for partial summary judgment and the supplement to petitioner's motion, respondent's cross-motion for partial summary judgment, the declaration and exhibits attached to respondent's response to petitioner's motion, the exhibits attached to petitioner's reply to respondent's response, and petitioner's supplemental reply and affidavit attached thereto. The background facts are set forth solely for the purpose of deciding the motions and are not findings of fact for this case.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Petitioner is a successor in interest by merger to West One Bancorp, formerly known as Moore Financial Group, Inc. (Moore Financial), a national bank holding company incorporated in Idaho in 1981. During the years in issue, 1986 through 1988, Moore Financial was the parent corporation 1998 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 382">*386 of IFNB. Principal Accrued Interest Description Balances as of 12/31/86 Time deposits with banks 1998 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 382">*387 $ 164,000,000 CD's with banks Consumer loans 16,626,503 381,325 Commercial and agricultural loans Total
None of the short-term obligations held by IFNB at yearend 1986 had been previously issued and then acquired by IFNB from third parties (i.e., from parties other than the borrower, debtor, or obligor). The only obligations acquired by IFNB from third parties were long-term corporate bonds and U.S. Government 1998 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 382">*388 securities, none of which are in issue in this matter.
Petitioner supports its assertion that IFNB originated the short-term obligations at issue here in the ordinary course of its banking business, by stating that IFNB relied upon the borrower's good faith and credit -- along with any collateral used to secure the loan -- to repay the resulting obligation. Although (as discussed below) respondent asserts that the time deposits and CD's owned by IFNB are different from ordinary bank loans, 1998 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 382">*389 respondent does not contest petitioner's assertion that the time deposits (and impliedly, the CD's) arise in the ordinary course of business, as a customary method used by banks to earn interest on surplus funds.
DISCUSSION
Summary judgment is intended to expedite litigation and avoid unnecessary and expensive trials.
Summary judgment is appropriate where there is no genuine issue of material fact and decision may be rendered as a matter of law.
The parties agree 1998 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 382">*391 that the controlling statutory provisions are
In
Petitioner 1998 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 382">*393 asserts that the short-term obligations at issue in this case are indistinguishable from the obligations we considered in
Respondent, on the other hand, advances three arguments to support the determination that the short-term obligation rules do apply.
First, respondent asserts that our decision in
Second, respondent asserts that the obligations in this case were issued with OID -- an assertion respondent expressly declined to make with respect to the loans at issue in
Third and finally, respondent asserts that the time deposits and CD's at issue in this case are different, in legally significant respects other than their "discount" status, from the bank loans at issue in
We consider respondent's arguments seriatim. In so doing, we explain why summary judgment is appropriate with respect to IFNB's consumer, commercial, and agricultural loans but is not appropriate with respect to its time deposits and CD's.
Respondent first asks the Court to reconsider its holding in
Although respondent advances this argument with force and cogency -- and also tries to identify certain factual differences between the loans at issue in this case and the loans considered in
As we stated in
Security Bank Minn. v. Commissioner citation omitted was a Court-reviewed opinion. The majority opinion contains an extensive analysis of the statute, its evolution, the context in which it appears, and its legislative history. There was a dissenting opinion which was joined by five Judges. In affirming our opinion, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit also made an extensive analysis of the same factors. One of the judges on the Court of Appeals panel dissented.
No purpose would be served by repeating the statutory analysis that lead this Court and the Court of Appeals to decide that
We agree, and decline to overrule
Respondent argues in the alternative that, even if we follow
As a result, argues respondent, our decision in
First, although it is true that respondent, in
Second, under respondent's 1986 proposed regulations interpreting the OID rules, 1998 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 382">*402 We note that final regulations were not published until 1994 and are generally not applicable to debt instruments issued before April 4, 1994.
As 1998 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 382">*403 a result, we were inclined to disregard respondent's argument that the asserted presence of OID in this case requires a result different from that decided in Security Bank Minn., even before we had considered the effect of our recently released decision in
In response to this argument, in
Our analysis in
In the case at hand, we follow
As an alternative to the foregoing arguments, which relate to ALL the short-term 1998 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 382">*405 obligations held by IFNB during the years at issue, respondent makes a third argument, which applies only to IFNB's time deposits and CD's, the obligors of which were other banks.
In essence, respondent asserts that even if
According to respondent, our precise holding in
In support of this argument, respondent notes that the Court in
In examining the plain language of the statute, the Court in
In the Code and in normal bank parlance, terms such as acquisition and issue commonly refer to third-party debt instruments; "loans" are "made" by a bank to its customers. * * * The terms "loan" and "made" are noticeably absent from the definition of short-term obligations in
Similarly, in evaluating the legislative record, the Court in Security Bank Minn. noted that: "all of the available material in the legislative history is expressed in terms relating to purchased or acquired instruments, not expressly 1998 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 382">*407 to loans made."
Against this background, respondent asserts that time deposits and CD's ARE "purchased" or "acquired" from other banks, within the common meaning of those words, and within the meaning developed by the Court in
We believe that whether, as a matter of law, respondent's argument is correct depends, at least in part, on the answers to a number of factual questions concerning the nature of time deposits and CD's. For example, before we could rule on respondent's motion with respect to this issue, we believe we would need to know how time deposits and CD's are regarded in banking and commercial practice -- and how, in that practice, they are considered to differ (if at all) from "bank loans made to customers". Or, to put it another way, we would need to know whether bankers consider time deposits and CD's to be "acquired" or "issued", in a sense in which 1998 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 382">*408 bank loans are not.
In addition, we would need to know whether time deposits and CD's are considered to be "investments" similar to third-party commercial paper, while "loans" are considered to be noninvestment "business done with customers". In this regard, it would be helpful to know how the documentation evidencing -- or perhaps constituting -- time deposits and CD's, differs from the standard bank loan agreement or promissory note.
The materials submitted by the parties with respect to their motions for summary judgment do not permit us to answer those factual questions. As a result, there are genuine issues of material fact that must be resolved by a trial, or be obviated by agreement of the parties, before we can decide whether the rule of law we first expressed in
For all the reasons set forth above, we reject respondent's arguments, apply stare decisis, follow
To reflect the foregoing,
An order will be issued granting in part and denying in part petitioner's motion for partial summary judgment, as supplemented, and denying respondent's cross-motion for partial summary judgment.
1. On Nov. 18, 1997, the Court granted petitioner's motion to consolidate this case with the case at docket No. 27342-96. Because the issue herein is not related to the issues in docket No. 27342-96 and does not involve the tax years at issue in docket No. 27342-96, the order pursuant to this opinion will be issued only in docket No. 6544-97. Also for this reason, the Court, by order dated Sept. 15, 1998, has denied petitioner's motion for partial summary judgment, as supplemented, and respondent's cross-motion for partial summary judgment on the interest on short-term receivables issue in the case at docket No. 27342-96. ↩
2. All Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure, and all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect for the years in issue (1986-88), unless otherwise specified.↩
3. For the purposes of the motion, petitioner has conceded that 12-month commercial and agricultural loans that are regularly renewed or rolled over are "short-term" obligations. Although petitioner's motion states that it does not concede the point for all purposes, our disposition of the question on such loans has mooted the point.↩
4. Petitioner has conceded that it is not entitled to its reporting position that the interest in issue that was received in 1987 should be spread ratably over the 4 years 1987-90 as a sec. 481 change in accounting method adjustment under sec. 448(d)(7), as enacted by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Pub. L. 99-514, sec. 801(a), 100 Stat. 2347 (TRA 1986). Sec. 448 requires C corporations having average annual gross receipts of more than $ 5 million to switch to the accrual method of accounting for 1987 and later years.
5. After the years at issue (in 1989) Moore Financial changed its name to West One Bancorp (West One). In 1995, West One merged into U.S. Bancorp (Old Bancorp). In 1997, Old Bancorp merged into First Bank System, Inc., a bank holding company, which changed its name to U.S. Bancorp (the petitioner in this case).↩
6. IFNB switched to the accrual method of accounting for 1987, as required by sec. 448, enacted by TRA 1986. See supra note 4.↩
1. The time deposits with banks had stated maturities of less than 180 days, and often less than 61 days. All the time deposits were in exact multiples of $ 1 million and the majority of the obligors were foreign banks. Petitioner's records showed the CD's as having originated from following foreign centers: The Cayman Islands, Nassau, Toronto, Zurich, London, and Frankfurt.
2. The CD's with banks had stated maturities of 9 months to 1 year. All the CD's were in exact multiples of $ 1 million, and the majority of the obligors were foreign banks. Each CD was denominated either "Yankee" or "Euro".↩
3. The amounts agreed upon by the parties with respect to loans have been adjusted to remove all amounts in respect of obligations of local govern-ments.↩
4. The total amounts of interest included in the accruals include loans due and payable in 1986 on which principal and interest remained unpaid at yearend.↩
7. There are factual differences between petitioner's consumer, commercial, and agricultural loans and its time deposits and CD's with banks. The consumer, commercial, and agricultural loans provided for periodic payments of interest, monthly in most cases, quarterly in a few; as a result, the accrued but unpaid interest with respect to such loans held at Dec. 31, 1986, amounted on the average to approximately 1 month's worth of interest on each loan. The CD's with banks provided for the payment of interest only at maturity; as a result, the amount of the accrual with respect to each such instrument was relatively larger. As evidenced by the schedule, supra p. 5, at 1986 yearend, the remaining accrual period on the CD's, which bore interest at rates ranging from 7.07 percent to 8.10 percent per year, was, on the average, closer to 6 months than to 1 month. Although the time deposits with banks also provided for one payment of interest at maturity, the remaining average accrual period on the time deposits was relatively much shorter than for the CD's because of the shorter average period to maturity of the time deposits.
8. These provisions were added to the Code in 1984, by the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 (DEFRA), Pub. L. 98-369, sec. 41(a), 98 Stat. 548. The provisions were amended in 1986, by sec. 1803(a)(8) of TRA 1986, 100 Stat. 2794.↩
9.
(a) General Rule. -- In the case of any short-term obligation to which this section applies, for purposes of this title --
(1) there shall be included in the gross income of the holder an amount equal to the sum of the daily portions of the acquisition discount for each day during the taxable year on which such holder held such obligation, and
(2) any interest payable on the obligation (other than interest taken into account in determining the amount of the acquisition discount) shall be included in gross income as it accrues.
(1) In general. -- In the case of any short-term obligation which is not a short-term Government obligation * * * --
(A)
10. For example, we note that most of IFNB's consumer, commercial, and agricultural loans provided for payments of interest at monthly intervals, as well as at maturity, while the agricultural loans at issue in
11. Indeed, those considerations point in the other direction. The issues in this case have limited significance in subsequent years because of the enactment of sec. 448, requiring C corporations, including large banks such as IFNB, with average annual gross receipts of more than $ 5 million, to switch to the accrual method of accounting, effective for 1987 and subsequent years. Petitioner observes that our ruling in this matter will not apply to petitioner for any other tax year and is not likely to apply to any other large commercial bank.
12. These Code provisions are discussed
13. As we stated in
As we have noted citation omitted, the common thread of the sections included in Part V * * * of Subchapter P of Chapter 1 of the Code, which Part contains the original issue discount (OID), market discount, and discount on short-term obligation rules is that amounts defined as discount are to be taken into account as ordinary income in some appropriate manner. Thus the obligations or instruments to which Part V applies are obligations or instruments that involve some sort of discount -- in the case of
14.
15. Sec. 1273(a)(1) defines the amount of OID an obligation contains to be equal to the excess of the obligation's "stated redemption price at maturity" (SRPM) over the obligation's "issue price". Under
What all this means is that under the 1986 Proposed Regs., ALL interest payments on a short-term obligation would be included in the obligation's SRPM, and would therefore constitute OID.↩
16.
17. For examples of opinions so characterizing proposed regulations, see
18. For a contemporaneous critical view of respondent's alternative argument based upon the 1986 Proposed Regs., see Lokken, "The Time Value of Money Rules",
19. Other possible questions concern the importance of the facts that the time deposits and CD's held by IFNB were in exact multiples of $ 1 million, and that the majority of the obligors were large foreign banks, both of which are factors that would tend to make the time deposits and CD's much more liquid than a typical bank loan.↩
20. The fact that both parties have moved for summary judgment does not require the Court to decide that there are no genuine issues of material fact, or that summary judgment is appropriate. Under
This Court has often found that issues of material fact exist -- and has declined to grant summary judgment for either party -- where cross-motions have been made. See
The same approach has been used by courts deciding cross-motions for summary judgment under the analogous Federal rule,
When litigants concurrently pursue summary judgment, the first impression of the uninitiated is often that at least one party inevitably will be victorious and obtain summary judgment. However, this seemingly intuitive impression is incorrect. * * * Each individual summary judgment motion must be evaluated independently to determine whether there exists a genuine dispute of material fact and whether movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. 11
See also 10A Wright et al., Federal Practice & Procedure: Civil sec. 2720 (3d ed. 1998), and the cases cited therein. ↩
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