Tli Inc. v. U.S.

• Decision Date: 29 November 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-10582,95-10582
• Parties: TLI, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 424

100 F.3d 424

TLI, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 95-10582

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

November 29, 1996.

William Oliver Holston, Jr, Sullivan, Ave & Holston, Dallas, TX, for plaintiff-appellant.

Gary R Allen, Kenneth L Greene, Charles Bricken, Regina Sherry Moriarty, U.S. Department of Justice, Tax Division, Appellate Section, Washington, DC, for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Before GARWOOD, EMILIO M. GARZA and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.

DENNIS, Circuit Judge:

TLI, Inc. filed this federal income tax refund action contending that its claims were not barred by the statute of limitations because it had satisfied the requirements of the "mitigation" provisions, 1311 and 1314 of the Internal Revenue Code, for lifting the bar of the statute of limitations respecting its otherwise untimely administrative claims for refunds for 1983 and 1984, and that in any event, 108(a)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code extended its time for filing its claim for refund for the 1984 tax year. The parties filed motions for summary judgment. The district court granted the United States' motion, holding that TLI failed to satisfy all the requirements of the mitigation provisions and that 108(a)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code does not extend the time for filing claims for refund. TLI appealed. Having reviewed the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo,¹ we now affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

TLI, Inc., prior to changing its name in 1987, was known as Trailways Lines, Inc. During the taxable years in question, TLI was a component member of an affiliated group of corporations that had properly elected to file consolidated federal income tax returns (the "Trailways Group"). The Trailways Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 12, 1988. Pursuant to the confirmed Plan of Reorganization, the parent and subsidiary corporations of the Trailways Group were merged into TLI. As the successor to the other members of the Trailways Group, TLI is the sole owner of the taxpayer claims asserted by the Trailways Group.

During 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979, the Trailways Group acquired and placed in service tangible personal property ("Section 38" property) which qualified it for a significant number of Investment Tax Credits ("ITCs"). The ITCs claimed in 1976, 1977 and 1978 were fully utilized to reduce the Trailways Group's tax burden for such years; however, the Trailways Group had no taxable income for 1979. Therefore, the ITCs claimed in that year were carried back to reduce its income tax liabilities for 1977 and 1978. What was left of the 1979 ITCs were carried forward to 1980 and subsequent taxable years.

The Trailways Group, in 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1986, disposed of items of the Section 38 property before the end of their estimated useful life. Section 47(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code provides that upon a Disposition of Section 38 property

before the close of the useful life which was taken into account in computing the credit ... the tax ... for such taxable year shall be increased by an amount equal to the aggregate decrease in the credits allowed ... for all prior taxable years which would have resulted solely from substituting, in determining qualified investment, for such useful life the period beginning with the time the property was placed in service ... and ending with the time the property ceased to be section 38 property.

26 U.S.C. 47(a)(1). Revenue Ruling 72-221 explains that "section 47(a) ... is designed to place the taxpayer in the same position at the close of the recapture year as he would have been in had he claimed the actual life of the "section 38 property' " that was disposed of prematurely. Rev.Rul. 72-221, 1972-3 C.B. 15. In order to reach this result, the true life of the property "must be substituted in place of the useful life claimed initially, and the tax liabilities of all prior years affected by the substitution must be recomputed." Id. In situations similar to that of the Trailways Group, the Ruling provides that the unused investment credit earned in a later year must be treated as an increase in the credits allowed under 38 for prior taxable years and this increase must be taken into account in computing the aggregate decrease in credits under 47(a); and that 47(c) does not preclude the carryback of the unused investment credit for a later year in recomputing the tax liabilities for all prior taxable years to determine the amount of recapture tax liability under section 47(a). Consequently, the Trailways Group should have avoided paying recapture taxes in 1983 through 1986 by carrying back its unused 1979 ITCs in recomputing the tax liabilities for all prior taxable years. But the Trailways Group failed to compute its taxes properly and, as a result, in 1983 through 1986, erroneously paid recapture taxes it did not owe and claimed investment credit carryforwards to which it was not entitled.

After the Trailways Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 12, 1988, its insolvency accountants discovered the erroneous computations resulting in the payment of recapture taxes and improper ITC carryovers. To correct these errors, the taxpayer filed amended returns on July 28, 1988, for the calendar years 1983 through 1986. The amended returns sought to reduce the taxpayer's ITC carryforward to the proper amount and to obtain a refund of the recapture taxes paid in error. The taxpayer attached a statement explaining that because the requested refunds related, in part, to a return filed more than three years ago, the amended returns were being filed under the mitigation provisions of 1311 through 1314 of the Internal Revenue Code as well as 505(b) of the Bankruptcy Code.

On August 29, 1989, the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") determined that the Trailways Group would be allowed its claims for a refund for the year 1985 and for a reduction of its ITC carryover for the year 1986, concluding that "Revenue Ruling 72-221 does apply in calculating the ITC recapture and the carryovers for 1985 and 1986." The Trailways Group did not exercise its appeal rights with the IRS or contest in court the findings in the report.

On October 4, 1989, the IRS examiner reported that the Trailways Group's claims requesting refunds for 1983 and 1984 would be denied because the claims were not timely filed and the mitigation statutes did not apply to them. The examiner's explanation, in pertinent part, provided:

The taxpayer in this case is relying on Section 1312(4) which allows an adjustment if a determination disallows a deduction or credit which should have been, but was not, allowed to the taxpayer for another year or to a related taxpayer (for any year). An inconsistent position is not required, but at the time the taxpayer first maintained, in writing, the claim for deduction or credit that was disallowed by the determination, the proper deduction or credit cannot be barred.

On December 11, 1989, the IRS determined that the Trailways Group's claims for the 1983 and 1984 tax years would be disallowed, concluding that for each year "the claim has been denied as it was not timely filed and the mitigation statutes do not apply."

TLI filed an action in the district court on September 6, 1991, for the recovery of federal income taxes erroneously assessed and collected. TLI moved for summary judgment on the grounds that: (1) 108(a)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code extended its time for filing its claim for refund for the 1984 tax year; and, (2) it had satisfied the requirements of the mitigation provisions for lifting the bar of the statute of limitations respecting its otherwise untimely administrative claims for refunds for 1983 and 1984 tax years. The United States filed a response and a cross motion for summary judgment. The district court denied TLI's motion and granted the United States' cross motion for summary judgment. In its opinion, the district court concluded that (1) 108 of the Bankruptcy Code did not afford the taxpayer an extension of time in which it could file a timely claim for refund of the overpayment of 1984 recapture taxes; and, (2) the mitigation provisions of the Tax Code, 1311 through 1314, may not be applied to allow the taxpayer to lift the bar of the statute of limitations and obtain refunds of overpaid 1983 and 1984 recapture taxes.

Discussion

1.

Pursuant to 108(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, a party may extend a limitations period for two years following a bankruptcy order for relief. It applies "if applicable nonbankruptcy law ... fixes a period within which the debtor may commence an action, and such period has not expired before the date of the filing of the petition [of bankruptcy]. " 11 U.S.C. 108(a) (emphasis added). In this case, TLI filed for bankruptcy before the expiration of the three-year limitations period for filing a tax refund claim, set forth in 26 U.S.C. 6511(a), for the 1984 refund. The district court decided, however, that 108(a) of the Bankruptcy Code tolls the statute of limitations, not for bringing an administrative tax refund claim, but only for the bringing of a suit in court. Since TLI brought suit more than two years after the petition for bankruptcy, its claim rests on the application of 108(a)'s "commence[ment of] an action" to administrative refund claims.

TLI argues that 108(a)'s "commence[ment of] an action" includes the filing of an administrative claim prerequisite to litigation. A taxpayer must file a claim for refund with the IRS before bringing suit in court. Brown v. United States, 890 F.2d 1329, 1346 (5th Cir.1989) (citing 26 U.S.C. 7422(a); Treas.Reg. 301.6402-2(b)(1)). Therefore, TLI argues, the administrative application for refund is the true commencement of the "action."

The few courts to have addressed this issue have held that 108(a) does not apply to...