Highpoint Tower Tech. Inc. v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue, 18-10394

• Decision Date: 24 July 2019
• Docket Number: No. 18-10394,18-10394
• Citation: 931 F.3d 1050
• Parties: HIGHPOINT TOWER TECHNOLOGY INC., Petitioner - Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent - Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

931 F.3d 1050

HIGHPOINT TOWER TECHNOLOGY INC., Petitioner - Appellant,

v.COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent - Appellee.

No. 18-10394

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

July 24, 2019

David DeCoursey Aughtry, Patrick J. McCann, Jr., Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry, ATLANTA, GA, for Petitioner - Appellant.

Clint A. Carpenter, Kathleen E. Lyon, Teresa E. McLaughlin, Gilbert Steven Rothenberg, U.S. Department of Justice, Chief Appellate Section Tax Division, WASHINGTON, DC, William C. Bogardus, Law Office of William C. Bogardus, Commerce Center One, E HARTFORD, CT, William M. Paul, Internal Revenue Service, Acting Chief Counsel, WASHINGTON, DC, Debra Lynn Reale, Law Office of Debra Lynn Reale, E HARTFORD, CT, for Respondent - Appellee.

Petition for Review of a Decision of the U.S. Tax Court, Agency No. 2828-16

Before ED CARNES, Chief Judge, ANDERSON and JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judges.

ANDERSON, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal by Highpoint Tower Technology, Inc. ("Highpoint") of the Tax Court’s denial of its Motion to Restrain Collection of the gross valuation-misstatement penalty, I.R.C. § 6662(h)(1), which was determined to be applicable during relevant partnership proceedings.¹ The issue in this case is whether, under the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 ("TEFRA"),² a Tax Court presiding over partner-level deficiency proceedings has jurisdiction over a gross valuation-misstatement penalty previously determined to be applicable at the partnership level where the partnership was determined to be a "sham" and "lacking economic substance." The Internal Revenue Code, as in effect during the relevant time, applicable regulations, and Supreme Court precedent make clear that the valuation-misstatement penalty at issue here relates to an adjustment to a partnership item and, consequently, is explicitly excluded from the Tax Court’s deficiency jurisdiction. We hold that a Tax Court presiding over partner-level deficiency proceedings does not have jurisdiction over gross valuation-misstatement penalties imposed against a partnership previously determined to be a "sham" and "lacking economic substance." We accordingly affirm the Tax Court’s order denying taxpayer’s Motion to Restrain Collection to the extent it related to the gross valuation-misstatement penalty.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

This case involves a tax shelter known as "Son-of-BOSS." "Like many of its kin, this tax shelter employs a series of transactions to create artificial financial losses that are used to offset real financial gains, thereby reducing tax liability." Petaluma FX Partners, LLC v. Comm’r, 591 F.3d 649, 650 (D.C. Cir. 2010), abrogated on other grounds by United States v. Woods, 571 U.S. 31, 134 S. Ct. 557, 187 L.Ed.2d 472 (2013).

There are a number of different types of Son-of-BOSS transactions, but what they all have in common is the transfer of assets encumbered by significant liabilities to a partnership, with the goal of increasing basis in that partnership. The liabilities are usually obligations to buy securities, and typically are not completely fixed at the time of transfer. This may let the partnership treat the liabilities as uncertain, which may let the partnership ignore them in computing basis. If so, the result is that the partners will have a basis in the partnership so great as to provide for large—but not out-of-pocket—losses on their individual tax returns. Enormous losses are attractive to a select group of taxpayers—those with enormous gains.

Kligfeld Holdings v. Comm’r, 128 T.C. 192, 194 (2007) ; see also I.R.S. Notice 2000–44, 2000–2 C.B. 255.

In 1999, Highpoint joined Arbitrage Trading, LLC ("Arbitrage") as a partner. In exchange for a membership interest in Arbitrage, Highpoint contributed $62,500 in cash and a pair of Euro options that it had purchased from AIG International, Inc. By disregarding the potential obligations under the Euro options as a potential liability, Highpoint reported its outside basis as $13,295,980. A few months after entering the partnership, Highpoint withdrew in exchange for a liquidated distribution of the Euros. It then sold the Euros and reported a related capital loss of $13,111,783 on its 1999 federal income tax return.

B. Procedural Background

Before outlining the legal proceedings that ensued after Highpoint filed its 1999 income tax return reflecting artificial losses generated by its participation in this tax shelter, we first pause to outline the statutory framework governing taxation of partnerships at the time in question. After this overview, we outline the partnership-level proceedings concerning Arbitrage and the partner-level proceedings concerning Highpoint that have spanned the twenty years or so since Highpoint filed its income tax return reporting the losses at issue, which ultimately resulted in this appeal.

1. Overview of statutory scheme

"A partnership does not pay federal income taxes; instead, its taxable income and losses pass through to the partners." United States v. Woods, 571 U.S. 31, 38, 134 S. Ct. 557, 562, 187 L.Ed.2d 472 (2013) (citing I.R.C. § 701 ). Partnerships file informational returns, § 6031(a), and individual partners report their shares of the partnership’s income or losses on their respective income tax returns, § 702. Prior to TEFRA

the IRS had no way of correcting errors on a partnership’s return in a single, unified proceeding. Instead, tax matters pertaining to all the members of a partnership were dealt with just like tax matters pertaining only to a single taxpayer: through deficiency proceedings at the individual-taxpayer level. See generally §§ 6211–6216 (2006 ed. and Supp. V). Deficiency proceedings require the IRS to issue a separate notice of deficiency to each taxpayer, § 6212(a) (2006 ed.), who can file a petition in the Tax Court disputing the alleged deficiency before paying it, § 6213(a). Having to use deficiency proceedings for partnership-related tax matters led to duplicative proceedings and the potential for inconsistent treatment of partners in the same partnership. Congress addressed those difficulties by enacting [TEFRA]. 96 Stat. 648 (codified as amended at 26 U.S.C. §§ 6221 – 6232 (2006 ed. and Supp. V)).

Woods, 571 U.S. at 38, 134 S. Ct. at 562–63. TEFRA created a two-step process for addressing partnership-related tax matters:

First, the IRS must initiate proceedings at the partnership level to adjust "partnership items," those relevant to the partnership as a whole. §§ 6221, 6231(a)(3). It must issue [a Final Partnership Administrative Adjustment] notifying the partners of any adjustments to partnership items, § 6223(a)(2), and the partners may seek judicial review of those adjustments, § 6226(a)–(b). Once the adjustments to partnership items have become final, the IRS may undertake further proceedings at the partner level to make any resulting "computational adjustments" in the tax liability of the individual partners. § 6231(a)(6). Most computational adjustments may be directly assessed against the partners, bypassing deficiency proceedings and permitting the partners to challenge the assessments only in post-payment refund actions. § 6230(a)(1), (c). Deficiency proceedings are still required, however, for certain computational adjustments that are attributable to "affected items," that is, items that are affected by (but are not themselves) partnership items. §§ 6230(a)(2)(A) (i), 6231(a)(5).

Id. at 39, 134 S. Ct. at 563. With this framework in mind, we next outline the partnership-level proceedings concerning Arbitrage.

2. Partnership-level proceedings

In October 2005, the IRS issued a Notice of Final Partnership Administrative Adjustment ("FPAA") to Arbitrage, proposing adjustments to partnership items for the 1999 tax year. The FPAA reported that the IRS had determined that Arbitrage "was formed and availed of solely for the purposes of tax avoidance by artificially overstating basis in the partnership interests of its purported partners." The IRS had determined that Arbitrage "was a sham" and "lacked economic substance." Accordingly, the IRS had determined that (a) Arbitrage would be disregarded and all transactions engaged in by the purported partnership would be treated as engaged in directly by its purported partners; (b) the foreign currency options would be treated as if never contributed to Arbitrage; (c) the purported partners would not be treated as partners of Arbitrage; and (d) contributions to Arbitrage would be adjusted to reflect the partnership’s or purported partner’s income. Purported partners were determined to have "not established adjusted bases in their respective partnership interests in an amount greater than zero." The IRS further determined, among other things, that "a 40 percent penalty shall be imposed on the portion of any underpayment attributable to the gross valuation misstatement."

I.R.C. § 6662(a) imposes a 20% accuracy-related penalty to the portion of underpaid tax attributable to, among other things, negligence, any substantial understatement of income tax, or any substantial valuation misstatement. § 6662(a), (b)(1)–(3). The penalty increases to 40% if there is a gross valuation misstatement. § 6662(h)(1). "A gross valuation misstatement exists if ‘the value of any property (or the adjusted basis of any property) claimed on any return of tax ... is [400] percent or more of the amount determined to be the correct amount of such valuation or adjusted basis (as the case may be).’ " Gustashaw v. C.I.R., 696 F.3d 1124, 1135 (11th Cir. 2012) (citing § 6662(e)(1)(A), (h)(2)(A)(i) ). A treasury regulation relatedly provides:

The value or adjusted basis claimed on a return of any property with a correct value or adjusted basis of zero is considered to be 400 percent or more of the correct amount. There is a gross valuation misstatement with respect to such property, therefore, and the applicable penalty rate is 40 percent.

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