Wells v. Gay
| Decision Date | 29 April 1952 |
| Citation | 58 So.2d 690 |
| Parties | WELLS et al. v. GAY, Comptroller. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Wilson Trammel and Bernstein & Hodson, Miami, for appellants.
Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., and George E. Owen, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
In the circuit court of Leon County the appellants sought an interpretation of organic and statutory law governing inheritance taxes in so far as they relate to appellants' effort to secure an order directing the appellee to refund to them $13,596.06 in such taxes.
The testatrix died in 1941. A tax return was filed two years later with the Collector of Internal Revenue, and the inheritance tax shown to be due was paid. About the same time a copy of the return was filed with the Comptroller, and he was paid $14,285.21, the sum that appeared due the State of Florida. More than five years later an additional amount of $10,146.31 principal, together with interest of $3,449.75, thought by appellants to be owing the state was paid. A few days afterward the Collector of Internal Revenue advised appellants that a credit of $16,075.40, which included the last payment of principal and interest, totaling $13,596.06, could not be allowed appellants because of the restriction in Section 813(b) of the United State Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C.A. § 813(b), that no credit for state taxes could be allowed unless the payment was made within four years of filing the return.
The appellants then claimed a refund from the Comptroller of the principal and interest last paid. When the claim was rejected this suit followed.
We turn now to Section 11 of Article IX of the Constitution of Florida, F.S.A., inhibiting taxes upon inheritances by the state, but providing that such taxes may be required by the legislature 'not exceeding in the aggregate the amounts which may by any law of the United States be allowed to be credited against or deducted from any similar tax upon Inheritances, or taxes on estates assessed or levied by the United States on the same subject * * *.'
Section 813(b), supra, specifically provides that the tax imposed by the United States 'shall be credited with the amount of any estate * * * taxes actually paid to any State * * *' and further that the 'credit allowed * * * shall not exceed 80 per centum of the tax imposed * * * and shall include only such taxes as were actually paid and credit therefor claimed within four years after the filing of the return * * *.' Italics supplied.
The pivotal question is this: If the tax is paid to the state too late for a credit on the Federal tax to be allowed does it follow that the state should be deprived of the money?
The language of the constitution is quite clear. The...
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Estate of Fasken
...263 Cal.App.2d 795, 798--801, 69 Cal.Rptr. 921; Estate of Amar (1967) 255 Cal.App.2d 404, 407--409, 63 Cal.Rptr. 444; accord Wells v. Gay (Fla.1952) 58 So.2d 690; State v. Wiess (1943) 141 Tex. 303, 171 S.W.2d 848; Matter of Thalmann (N.Y.1941) 177 Misc. 1055, 32 N.Y.S.2d The Conflict in Cl......
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Good's Estate, In re
...statute that New York State could impose the additional tax even though the taxpayer had failed to claim the credit Wells et al. v. Gay (Fla.1952), 58 So.2d 690, in which the taxpayer paid the state taxes too late to claim the federal credit is to the same effect. 2 State v. Wiess (1943), 1......
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Mailman v. Green, 29655
...But, of course, the state's right to its share of the tax is not lost if the taxpayer fails to obtain a credit on the Federal tax. Wells v. Gay, Fla., 58 So.2d 690. As a matter of procedure, then, a representative of an estate would, upon making a return showing taxes due to the Federal gov......