Richardson v. Smith

• Decision Date: 28 July 1961
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 17122.
• Citation: 196 F. Supp. 432
• Parties: E. Stanley RICHARDSON, Rommel Wilson and George M. Clarke, Executors of the Estate of Gertrude Rommel Wilson, Deceased, v. Francis R. SMITH, Individually and as former Collector of Internal Revenue for the First District of Pennsylvania.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

196 F. Supp. 432

E. Stanley RICHARDSON, Rommel Wilson and George M. Clarke, Executors of the Estate of Gertrude Rommel Wilson, Deceased, v. Francis R. SMITH, Individually and as former Collector of Internal Revenue for the First District of Pennsylvania.

Civ. A. No. 17122.

United States District Court E. D. Pennsylvania.

July 28, 1961.

Logan Morris, Joseph J. Pugh, John C. Noonan, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiff.

Walter E. Alessandroni, U. S. Atty., Philadelphia, Pa., for defendant.

GRIM, District Judge.

This is an action on a claim for refund of federal estate tax. The question now before the court is whether the claim was asserted too late. The applicable statutory provision is § 910 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, 26 U.S. C.A. (I.R.C.1939) § 910:

"All claims for the refunding of the tax imposed by this subchapter alleged to have been erroneously or illegally assessed or collected must be presented to the Commissioner within three years next after the payment of such tax * * *"

Plaintiffs are the executors of the will of Gertrude Rommel Wilson, who died February 1, 1942. The estate tax return was filed May 1, 1943, accompanied by a remittance for the amount of tax shown to be due on the return. No claim or suit for a refund of this part of the tax has been filed.

After examining the return a revenue agent made a report asserting a deficiency in estate tax. On March 25, 1946, the collector sent the executors a form letter stating the amount of the proposed tax deficiency, with interest to March 28, 1946. The letter concluded:

"It is requested that you return the enclosed copy of this letter with your remittance covering both the tax and interest. No further interest is due."

The size of the estate and the amount of the tax depended on the outcome of claims of creditors against the Wilson estate and its interest in another decedent's estate, and the executors, consequently, did not agree that the claimed deficiency was correct.

On March 28, 1946, the executors mailed a check in the amount of the claimed deficiency, plus interest, but although they disagreed with the government's claimed deficiency, the record does not disclose that they sent with their check any letter or other indication of their position. The collector received the check April 1, 1946. On April 10, 1946, the collector sent the executors a letter enclosing a receipt. The executors filed their claim for refund on April 8, 1949.

If the payment of the deficiency took place on March 28, 1946, when the check was mailed, or on April 1, 1946, when it was received, it is clear that the claim for refund, filed April 8, 1949, was not "presented to the Commissioner within three years next after the payment of the tax." It is necessary, therefore, to determine when payment occurred. Plaintiffs contend that since there was a dispute...