RH Macy & Co. v. United States

• Decision Date: 12 May 1958
• Docket Number: No. 189,Docket 24710.,189
• Citation: 255 F.2d 884
• Parties: R. H. MACY & CO., Inc., L. Bamberger & Co., Davison-Paxon Co., and The La Salle & Koch Company, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

255 F.2d 884 (1958)

R. H. MACY & CO., Inc., L. Bamberger & Co., Davison-Paxon Co., and The La Salle & Koch Company, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 189, Docket 24710.

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued March 10, 1958.

Decided May 12, 1958.

Rehearing Denied June 16, 1958.

Morton S. Robson, Asst. U. S. Atty., S. D. N. Y., New York City (Paul W. Williams, U. S. Atty., and Daniel F. McMahon, Asst. U. S. Atty., New York City, on the brief), for defendant-appellant.

Roswell Magill, of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York City (Albert Rosenblum, Charles T. Stewart, Nathan Dreizen, George S. Parlin, Jr., George G. Tyler, and Edward Q. Carr, Jr., New York City, on the brief), for plaintiffs-appellees.

Before CLARK, Chief Judge, HINCKS, Circuit Judge, and BRENNAN, District Judge.

CLARK, Chief Judge.

The defendant appeals from a summary judgment in favor of the taxpayer, Macy,¹ allowing it to recover income and excess profits taxes for the fiscal year 1942 and denying defendant's cross-motion for summary judgment. D.C.S.D. N.Y., 148 F.Supp. 377. The facts have been stipulated. At issue is whether Macy, in 1948, may recompute taxable income for the fiscal year 1942, using the "last-in, first-out" (LIFO) method of inventory, when it had failed to file an election to use that method within the time prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

In its operation of retail department stores Macy values inventories according to the retail method of inventory valuation which was, and still is, acceptable to the Treasury Department. Under this method, inventory records are maintained by each department in the store in terms of dollars, rather than in terms of specific articles of merchandise.² Under any method of inventory, "costing" the closing inventory is a necessary step in the calculation of taxable income. FIFO and LIFO are alternative accounting methods for arriving at this cost. LIFO assumes that the last articles purchased during the year were the first ones sold, so that articles left in the inventory at the end of the year were the first ones purchased. FIFO (first-in, first-out) assumes the converse, that the earliest article purchased was the first one sold, so that articles left in the inventory at the end of the year were the last ones purchased. Obviously neither FIFO nor LIFO corresponds with actual fact, although the FIFO assumption seems more logical in the normal course of business operations. In a period of stable prices the application of either theory renders the same result. But during an inflationary period, LIFO is distinctly advantageous to the taxpayer, for, in effect, he is not required to include as profit increases in value of inventory. This illustrates the real purpose of the methods — to reflect accurately what normally is considered as profit during inflationary and deflationary periods in the economy.

Prior to 1939 only a limited class of taxpayers were permitted to use the LIFO method in calculating their federal taxes. The Internal Revenue Code of 1939, § 22(d), however, provided for its use by any taxpayer who complied with the requirements of the section. Two such requirements are at issue here: One, contained in § 22(d) (2) (A), required the taxpayer to make a binding application to use the LIFO method to be filed in a manner and at a time prescribed by the Commissioner. The other, contained in § 22(d) (3), required that the use of LIFO be in accordance with regulations which the Commissioner could prescribe as necessary so that the use of the method would clearly reflect income. The Commissioner implemented the statute with Regulations 103, § 19.22 (d). This required that the taxpayer file a statement of election to use LIFO with his return for the taxable year in which the method was first to be used, thus following the direction of § 22(d) (2) (A). And it further elaborated on other portions of the statute by spelling out with greater specificity the statutory requirements incident to the use of LIFO.

Macy's directors decided to adopt the LIFO method and took many of the necessary steps to implement their decision. Its executive committee voted to adopt the method for the purpose of determining operating profit to be shown in its annual report, and its board of directors followed suit soon thereafter. In addition Macy kept its regular books of account for the fiscal year 1942 on a LIFO basis, and in a prospectus relating to an issue of debentures it used LIFO to compute earnings for that fiscal year. Thus it seems apparent that Macy seriously was considering a change over to LIFO in its return for the fiscal year 1942 which was filed in July of that year.

Two factors, however, complicated the effectuating of this decision. First, Macy had issued during the fiscal year 1942 an interim report which was not based on LIFO. As the statute existed prior to its amendment in October 1942, this barred Macy from using LIFO for that fiscal year. Second, as stipulated by the parties, the Commissioner and other representatives of the Treasury Department took the position that LIFO was not available to users of the retail method of inventory valuation, since such taxpayers determined their inventories in terms of dollar values, rather than in terms of specific goods. Evidently the Commissioner interpreted the language of the statute which permitted the use of LIFO in inventorying "goods" to preclude its use by taxpayers who inventoried in terms of dollars. The argument is based on the fact that FIFO and LIFO deal in terms of specific articles of merchandise and thus appear to be inapposite to the retail method of inventory valuation, which deals in terms of dollar values. But this seeming inappropriateness is superficial when one considers the purpose of the theories — accurate reflection of profit — and essentially it is simple to apply the FIFO or LIFO assumptions to retail-method taxpayers. In the case of LIFO this consists roughly of adjusting the value of the closing inventory by price indices which reflect increases in value during the year.³ These difficulties did not completely discourage Macy, however, for in its return for that fiscal year, which was timely filed on July 15, 1942, inventories were reported on the basis of LIFO, using retail price indices prepared by the National Industrial Conference Board. Macy adjusted the income and excess profits taxes due, however, so as to reflect the retail method of inventory valuation, without the application of LIFO, and paid its taxes on this basis. Thus Macy filed a "dual" return which reflected taxable income with and without the use of LIFO, but actually paid its taxes without using the theory.

The Internal Revenue Code of 1939 was amended the following October to remove the first difficulty. The regulations were amended in December to allow taxpayers previously barred from using LIFO because of their publication of inconsistent interim reports to elect LIFO for the barred years by filing Treasury Department Form 970 prior to March 10, 1943. Macy was now in a position to effectuate its decision to adopt the LIFO method for the fiscal year 1942. But March 10, 1943, came and went without Macy filing the required notice of election, allegedly because of the Commissioner's opposition, which at that time had never been the subject of a formal ruling or decision.

Some seventy other retailers refused to acquiesce in the Commissioner's informal position, however, and they filed statements of election to use the LIFO method. In the absence of published price indices to adjust closing inventories, so as to make possible the computation of that portion of profit which was due to the year's price rise, these retailers used indices prepared by the National Industrial Conference Board, as had Macy in its original return for the fiscal year 1942. The Commissioner then took a formal stand disallowing the use of LIFO by "retail method" taxpayers. The issue came to a head in 1947 when the Tax Court in Hutzler Bros. Co. v. C. I. R., 8 T.C. 14, 28, decided in favor of the taxpayer and held that the statute contemplated the use of LIFO by taxpayers who valued inventory according to the retail method. The court interpreted the word "goods" as used in §§ 22(d) (1) and (2) broadly as merchandise "describing in the generic sense the stock in trade of a typical department store." The court also held that, regardless of the Commissioner's position, his "regulations are as consistent with petitioner's position as they are with that of respondent." Ibid. This statement obviously was directed at § 19.22(d)-2 of the regulation which referred to "goods" to be inventoried. The court suggested, however, that the Commissioner issue new regulations consistent with its opinion. The Commissioner acquiesced in the decision and, possibly because of the court's suggestion, issued amendments to the regulations. The major change by way of amendment was to add information concerning acceptable price indices. In addition the amendments removed any question as to the applicability of § 19.22 (d)-2 to retail method taxpayers. The amendments were retroactive to all taxable years beginning after December 31, 1938. Shortly thereafter the Commissioner issued Mim. 6244, 1948-1 C.B. 21, stating in detail proper price indices and providing that retailers who previously had filed returns on the basis of LIFO using unacceptable indices could thereafter file amended returns for all "open" years based on indices acceptable to the Commissioner.

In September or October 1948, Macy filed notices of election to use LIFO for the fiscal year 1942, together with claims for refund of taxes paid for that year. In 1948 this year was still an "open" year for purposes of claiming refunds. In early 1951 Macy requested a ruling on its election and claim. Eventually, in 1954, the Commissioner ruled adversely to it on the ground that...