DocketNumber: Docket No. 38126
Judges: Kern
Filed Date: 9/30/1957
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 10/19/2024
*71
Petitioner filed a timely refund claim under
*1263 For the fiscal year ended November 30, 1945, respondent determined a deficiency in income tax in the amount of $ 2,124.27 and an overassessment in excess profits tax in the amount *72 of $ 6,726.89. In making such determination, the respondent refused to allow an unused excess profits credit carryover and carryback based on a constructive average base period net income for the years ended November 30, 1944, and November 30, 1946. The parties have stipulated that the sole issue for determination is whether or not the applicable statute of limitations *1264 bars the allowance of petitioner's claim to an unused excess profits credit carryover and carryback from the fiscal years 1944 and 1946 to the fiscal year 1945.
FINDINGS OF FACT.
Some of the facts are stipulated. The stipulation, supplemental stipulation, and the exhibits attached thereto are incorporated herein by this reference.
Headline Publications, Inc. (formerly American Boys' Comics, Inc.), hereinafter referred to as petitioner, was incorporated on December 1, 1942, under the laws of the State of New York and adopted a fiscal year ending November 30. The petitioner has its principal office in New York City and at all times relevant herein was engaged in the publication of a comic magazine.
Petitioner timely filed its corporation income, declared value excess-profits, and corporation excess profits*73 tax returns for each of the fiscal years 1944, 1945, and 1946 (taking into consideration extensions of time previously granted) with the then collector of internal revenue for the third district of New York.
The excess profits net income, excess profits credit (on the invested capital credit method), specific exemption, and adjusted excess profits net income shown on petitioner's excess profits tax return for each of the fiscal years ended November 30, 1943, 1944, 1945, and 1946, were as follows:
Excess | ||||
profits | ||||
Excess | credit | Adjusted | ||
Year ended November 30 | profits net | (on the | Specific | excess |
income | invested | exemption | profits net | |
capital | income | |||
credit | ||||
method) | ||||
1943 | $ 10,110.13 | $ 600.00 | $ 5,000 | $ 4,510.13 |
1944 1 | 8,198.62 | 1,003.59 | 5,000 | 2,195.03 |
1944 2 | 8,198.62 | 1,003.59 | 10,000 | 0 |
1945 | 40,812.31 | 1,632.30 | 10,000 | 29,180.01 |
1946 | 1,596.18 | 2,662.87 | 10,000 | 0 |
The excess profits net income, excess profits credit (on the invested capital credit method), specific exemption, and adjusted excess profits net income*74 as determined without the benefit of any relief under
Excess | ||||
profits | ||||
Excess | credit | Adjusted | ||
Year ended November 30 | profits net | (on the | Specific | excess |
income | invested | exemption | profits net | |
capital | income | |||
credit | ||||
method) | ||||
1943 | $ 10,110.13 | $ 600.00 | $ 5,000 | $ 4,510.13 |
1944 1 | 8,198.62 | 1,003.59 | 5,000 | 2 1,128.34 |
1944 3 | 8,198.62 | 1,003.59 | 10,000 | 0 |
1945 | 41,386.39 | 1,632.30 | 10,000 | 29,754.09 |
1946 | 1,596.18 | 2,662.87 | 10,000 | 0 |
On October 7, 1947, petitioner filed a timely application on Form 991 for excess profits tax relief*75 under
*76 The original application was referred to the
In a report covering the Council's determination, dated March 30, 1950, a constructive average base period net income with respect to the fiscal year 1945 was allowed in the amount of $ 10,000. This determination was approved by the Executive Committee of the Council on April 17, 1950, and the case was returned to the New York field office on April 19, 1950. On the same date, a member of the *1266 Council notified petitioner's representative by mail that the Executive Committee of the Council had approved the allowance of a constructive average base period net income in the amount of $ 10,000 for each of the fiscal years 1943 and 1945. Thereafter, petitioner was notified by a so-called*77 30-day letter dated November 17, 1950, that its income and excess profits tax liability for the fiscal year 1945 had been adjusted to the same amounts which were subsequently reflected in the statutory notice of deficiency dated October 5, 1951.
On March 11, 1950, petitioner filed another Form 991 with respect to the fiscal year 1945 on which form the printed heading was altered to read: "Amendment To Application For Relief Under
Further to the application of American Boys' Comics, Inc. for relief from excessive excess profits tax pursuant to the provisions of
The taxpayer originally claimed a reconstructed excess profits credit in an amount sufficient to eliminate the entire excess profits tax for the fiscal year ended November 30, 1945 without the benefit of unused excess profits credit carry-over and carry-back. To date no final determination of the reconstructed excess profits credit which the taxpayer is entitled to has been made.
On March 13, 1950, petitioner's representative sent a copy of the amended claim to the respondent for the attention of a representative of the Excess Profits Tax Council. His letter of transmittal contained the following paragraph:
[It] is noted that the form EPC-1 submitted to me at the conclusion of our conference in Washington on February 23rd only provides for a constructive*79 average base period net income for the taxable years ended November 30, 1943 and November 30, 1945. In order to obtain the benefits of unused excess profits credit carry-overs and carry-backs, it is requested that a constructive average base period net income for 1944 and 1946 be set out on form EPC-1. No applications for relief on form 991 were filed for 1944 and 1946 in view of the fact that the excess profits net income in each of those years was less than $ 10,000.00 -- the specific exemption. Therefore, no application was necessary, and in fact would have been out of order.
*1267 The letter then continued to ask that there be sent to petitioner's representative "a revised EPC-1 showing constructive average base period net income for the taxable years ended November 30, 1943, November 30, 1944, November 30, 1945, and November 30, 1946."
On March 24, 1950, a member of the Excess Profits Tax Council wrote petitioner's representative informing him that the amended claims had been forwarded to the
The only applications for relief for the two years [1943 and 1945] which are properly before the Council relate to the question of the determination as to whether the taxpayer's excess profits credit for these years, as computed under the invested capital method, is an inadequate standard for determining excess profits by reason of the contention that the taxpayer qualifies for relief under the provisions of
Upon consideration by the Field Committee, it was determined that the amended claims were untimely. Accordingly, they were transmitted along with the
Petitioner filed a protest dated December 8, 1950, which was duly considered by the Appellate Division (then the Technical Staff, New York Division) *81 which sustained the examining officer.
On June 21, 1951, in a letter to a representative of respondent, petitioner's representative correctly, but for the first time, stated to respondent that the computations by which he arrived at the sum requested as refund in the original application, which was equal to the total amount of tax paid, included and must have included unused excess profits credit carryovers and/or carrybacks. He went on to say:
It is the taxpayer's contention that the Bureau of Internal Revenue in acting upon the taxpayer's
In this letter he enclosed the computations referred to therein which made use of an excess profits credit carryover from 1944 of $ 13,214.38 and a carryback from 1946 of $ 19,816.92.
The statutory notice of deficiency dated October 5, 1951, discloses respondent's refusal to allow any unused excess profits credit adjustment in the computation of petitioner's excess profits tax liability for *1268 the fiscal year 1945. The refusal*82 to make this allowance was explained as follows:
It is held that the amended Form 991 filed with the Excess Profits Tax Council on March 15, 1950, in which you claim the benefits of unused excess profits credit carry-forward and carry-back from the fiscal years ended November 30, 1944 and 1946 to November 30, 1945, an issue not contained in the original form 991 covering the fiscal year ended November 30, 1945, is not a timely amendment in respect of such new issue.
Shortly before the trial of this case, and solely for the purpose of stipulating all the necessary factors for its determination, respondent's representatives conferred with petitioner's representatives for the purpose of determining the constructive average base period net income of petitioner for the fiscal years ended November 30, 1944 and 1946.
Upon determining that conditions prevalent during the fiscal years 1943 and 1945 were not different from those in the fiscal years 1944 and 1946, respondent's representatives prepared a Council determination of a constructive average base period net income in the amount of $ 10,000 for each of the fiscal years 1944 and 1946. This Council determination, dated October 17, 1956, *83 was reviewed and approved by the Excess Profits Tax Council Coordinator on October 22, 1956.
The report of the Council determination contained the following paragraphs:
Subsequent to the issuance of the statutory notice, taxpayer filed a timely petition with the Tax Court on December 24, 1951. A hearing before the Tax Court has been set for the Calendar beginning October 22, 1956 in New York, N. Y. It is being contemplated that the case will be submitted to the Tax Court under Rule 30 of its Rules of Practice. The sole issue to be decided by the Court is whether or not the applicable statute of limitations bars the allowance of the taxpayer's claims to unused excess profits credit adjustments in the fiscal year ended November 30, 1945 by reason of an unused excess profits credit carry-over from the fiscal year ended November 30, 1944 and an unused excess profits credit carry-back from the fiscal year ended November 30, 1946.
It is further to be stipulated that should the Court find in favor of the taxpayer with respect to the above issue the CABPNI to be used for the fiscal years ended November 30, 1944 and November 30, 1946 for carry-over and carry-back purposes shall be in the*84 amount of $ 10,000. As a result, a Council determination of a CABPNI for such years is required.
It is therefore determined that a CABPNI of $ 10,000 be allowed for carry-over and carry-back purposes only for the fiscal years ended November 30, 1944 and November 30, 1946. An investigation discloses no changes with respect to the existence of the qualifying factor for such years. The petitioner was operating in the same manner during these two years as it was in the years for which relief had previously been allowed.
OPINION.
The sole issue for our decision is whether or not, under the circumstances here present, the statute of limitations bars *1269 the allowance of petitioner's claim to an unused excess profits credit carryover and carryback from the fiscal years 1944 and 1946, respectively, to the fiscal year 1945.
There is no doubt that the amended claim was filed after the statute of limitations had run and thus cannot possibly be considered independently as a timely claim for the benefit of a constructive unused excess profits credit carryover and carryback from the fiscal years 1944 and 1946. Petitioner alleges, however, that its original application inferentially but*85 effectively included a claim for its benefit of an excess profits credit carryover and carryback, since the figure used in the original application as to the amount of refund claimed could not have been arrived at without the inclusion in its computation of claims for a carryover and carryback. Thus, petitioner argues that the amended claim merely sets forth in specific words what was inherent in the original application.
In the alternative, petitioner argues that the amended claim may be properly considered since it involved no new research on the part of the respondent, and the facts necessary to dispose of the amended claim must, of necessity, have been considered in conjunction with the original application for a refund. In support of its position, petitioner cites
The statutory law, as found in sections 322 (b) (1) and (6), and 722 (d), may be summarized as follows: Section 322 (b) (1) provides that a claim for a credit or refund must be filed within 3 years from the time the return was filed or within 2 years from the time the tax was paid, whichever is the longer period; section 322 (b) (6) provides, in the case of an unused excess profits credit carryback, a special period or limitation which "ends with the expiration of the fifteenth day of the thirty-ninth month following the end of the taxable year of * * * the unused excess profits credit which results in such carryback * * *";
*87 *1270 Petitioner's original application, filed on Form 991, contained very little information. The only figures given were the requested refund of $ 24,948.91, and a requested constructive average base period net income (CABPNI) for the fiscal year 1945 of $ 22,540. The only explanation of the claim given referred to the "details of reconstruction of base period earnings included in data filed with claim for relief from excess profits tax for the fiscal year ended November 30, 1943." Petitioner does not argue that the claim for the fiscal year 1943 included as a ground for relief an unused excess profits credit carryback from the fiscal year 1944. Rather, it argues that the amount of relief claimed for 1945 in the original application could only have been arrived at by including in its computation a consideration of an excess profits credit carryover from 1944 and of a carryback from 1946, each in a considerable amount, and that such a computation was made by petitioner's counsel.
We assume,
Petitioner relies heavily on
[Petitioner's] application for relief for 1944 contained, among other matters, *90 a computation of tax which took account of an unused excess profits credit carryover from 1942 in an amount equal to the unused excess profits credit carryover from 1942 shown in its application for relief for 1943. The application for relief for 1944 stated that it incorporated by reference all matters contained in relief applications for other years, and stated that it relied for support of the claim upon the statement of facts attached to the application for relief for 1943. * * *
In the instant case, there was no incorporation by reference of any prior claim of, or specific reference to, a carryover or carryback, nor was the computation of tax referred to by petitioner contained in the application for relief for 1945.
Petitioner's reliance on
We are not unmindful of the recent decision of the Seventh Circuit in
In the alternative, petitioner contends that the amended claim, though filed in 1950, was not barred by section 322 since action on the amended claim did not entail any new research and, therefore, was a permissible amendment to the original application and not a new claim. Petitioner contends that so long as all the facts were "knowable *1273 to the respondent so that no new research was required of him," the amended claim is timely since it was filed before rejection of the original application.
The general rule involved was succinctly set forth by the Second Circuit in
Where the facts upon which the amendment is based would necessarily have been ascertained by the commissioner in determining the merits of the original claim, the amendment is proper.
In our opinion, the original application did not adequately apprise the respondent of the requested carryover and carryback. The original application called on the respondent to investigate only the fiscal year 1945. Respondent had no need to and, in fact, did not ascertain the relevant facts necessary for determination of the amended claim. Investigation of the requested carryover and carryback of necessity requires investigation of the question as to the correct CABPNI for the fiscal years 1944 and 1946. Thus, when the parties desired to stipulate the CABPNI for the fiscal years 1944 and 1946 for the purposes of this trial, a further investigation had to be held and more information was elicited. The fact that some of this information was negative in character and to the effect that there*95 was no material change in petitioner's business for 1944 and 1946 is irrelevant; it was still information elicited by further investigation. For these reasons we think the amended claim called for an investigation of facts and circumstances not called for by the original application and was thus barred by section 322.
On brief, the respondent has conceded that petitioner is entitled to carry back to the year 1945 an unused excess profits credit as determined on the invested capital credit basis for the fiscal year 1946. Because of this concession, a Rule 50 recomputation is necessary, in which effect will also be given to the agreements reached by the parties relating to other issues originally raised by the pleadings.
Reviewed by the Special Division.
1. For purpose of computation under 1943 rates.↩
2. For purpose of computation under 1944 rates.↩
1. For purpose of computation under 1943 rates.↩
2. After allowance of unused excess profits credit of $ 1,066.69 arising in the fiscal year ended November 30, 1946, as an unused excess profits credit carryback adjustment in the fiscal year ended November 30, 1944.↩
3. For purpose of computation under 1944 rates.↩
1. In 1948 an additional $ 525.53 was paid, making a total of $ 25,474.44.↩
2. Sec. 35.722-5. Application for Relief Under
* * * *
Except as otherwise provided in this section, the application on Form 991 (revised January, 1943) must set forth in detail and under oath each ground under
* * * *
In order to obtain the benefits of an unused excess profits credit for any taxable year for which an application for relief on Form 991 (revised January, 1943) was not filed, using the excess profits credit based on a constructive average base period net income as an unused excess profits credit carry-over or carry-back, the taxpayer, except as otherwise provided in (d) of this section, must file an application on Form 991 (revised January, 1943) for the taxable year to which such unused excess profits credit carry-over or carry-back is to be applied within the period of time prescribed by section 322 for the filing of a claim for credit or refund for such latter taxable year. In addition to all other information required, such application shall contain a complete statement of the facts upon which it is based and which existed with respect to the taxable year for which the unused excess profits credit so computed is claimed to have arisen, and shall claim the benefit of the unused excess profits credit carry-over or carry-back. * * *↩