Airco, Inc. v. United States

557 F.2d 237, 23 Cont. Cas. Fed. 81,394, 214 Ct. Cl. 332, 1977 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 60
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJune 15, 1977
DocketNo. 221-75
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 557 F.2d 237 (Airco, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Airco, Inc. v. United States, 557 F.2d 237, 23 Cont. Cas. Fed. 81,394, 214 Ct. Cl. 332, 1977 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 60 (cc 1977).

Opinion

Nichols, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case is before the court on cross-motions for summary judgment. The issue is unique among our cases, but a relevant Tax Court precedent will be referred to. It relates to a juridical animal long since extinct, the net renegotiation rebate. The General Services Administration (GSA) in a 1975 decision disallowed all but minor parts of claims by plaintiff for such rebates, that had been on file since 1952. The delay is partly attributed to awaiting the Tax Court precedent referred to, but LeTourneau Inc. v. Administrator of General Services, 29 T.C. 737, was filed January 30, 1958. The defendant gets the benefit of the delay, as there is no interest allowable, still less any allowance for inflation.

Many contractors in World War II renegotiation included in their allowable costs amortization of emergency facilities that had been constructed under certificates of necessity. These certificates, awarded by the defense production authorities, by § 124 of the Internal Revenue [335]*335Code of 1939, entitled the owner to amortize over sixty months; however, to still the fear that he might be stranded by the end of the war with emergency facilities still partly unamortized, there was also a provision in § 124(d) for shortening the period by proclamation of the President, thereby generating a recomputation and reduction of taxes. The Renegotiation Act provided in 50 U.S.C. App. § 1191(a)(4)(C), that no such addition should be made to allowable costs in renegotiation until the additional tax deduction had been determined, but the absence of such a recomputation should not constitute a cause for postponing the elimination of excessive profits by agreement or order. The renegotiation rebate was then provided for in the following § (a)(4)(D) and it was to be available notwithstanding the finality provisions of § (c)(4). Section (a)(4)(D) went on to tell how it was to be computed. First a gross renegotiation rebate was computed by allocating an appropriate part of the entire § 124(d) additional tax deduction. Then the final or net rebate was computed by taking off the part of the gross rebate that equalled the tax benefit from the elimination of the excessive profits in renegotiation, so far as it was to be restored via the rebate. This is an oversimplified version but will do for the instant case which does not involve the computation method as such. A rebate claimant had to file a timely claim. This was by amended statute, with the Administrator of General Services, 50 U.S.C. App. § 1231 by the time our plaintiffs claim was ready.

It was apparently, in Congressional eyes, a matter of simple arithmetic based on the documents in each case; the § 124(d) determinations of the IRS and the determinations of the War Contracts Price Adjustment Board (WCPAB) respecting excessive profits, the latter being final except as it did not block the computation of the rebate.

The problem in the instant case owes its existence largely to the tax controversy between the plaintiff Airco and the Internal Revenue Service that raged in the World War II period, and its resolution by the Supreme Court in National Carbide Corp. v. Commissioner, 336 U.S. 422 (1949), (National Carbide being one of Airco’s subsidiaries). Airco in and after 1938, the tax year under review in that [336]*336case, did its business largely through wholly owned subsidiaries which it utilized as operating companies. Contracts between the parent and each subsidiary provided in substance that the latter was employed as agent to manage and operate plants designed for the production of products assigned to each, and as agents to sell the output of the plants. Aireo furnished working capital, management, and office facilities. Subsidiaries paid Aireo all their profits in excess of 6 percent on a nominal outstanding capital stock. They held title to the assets they used (and also the certificates of necessity for their emergency facilities were issued to them), and amounts advanced by Aireo for purchase of assets and working capital were shown on the subsidiaries’ books as accounts payable to Aireo. No interest ran on these accounts. Aireo treated all profits thus turned over to it as its own income for Federal tax purposes. Subsidiaries reported as income only the 6 percent return above-mentioned, and used their nominal outstanding stock only to compute the "declared value excess profits tax.” The Commissioner claimed, and the Supreme Court held, affirming the Second Circuit, that the subsidiaries were taxable on the income turned over to Aireo. It is not necessary to discuss the issues in detail: suffice it that Aireo had sought to take advantage of a line of cases evidencing a willingness to pierce the corporate veil for tax purposes; and treat parent-subsidiary groups as unities. The decision signalled a return to strict adherence to corporate identities, with exceptions, if any, not here pertinent. The subsidiaries were deemed to have attempted to avoid taxation by anticipatory assignment of their income. A vital thing here is the timing. Airco’s 1942, 1943, and 1944 renegotiations were conducted with reference to Airco’s chosen way of reporting for tax purposes, and the drastic change imposed by the Second Circuit and the Supreme Court took effect only after the renegotiations for those years became final by agreement.

The renegotiation agreement for the year ended December 31, 1942, was dated June 14, 1944, and eliminated by refund $2,300,000 of excessive profits after consolidated renegotiation of Aireo and 15 named subsidiaries, but [337]*337recited that no part of the profits to be eliminated were allocated to the subsidiaries.

The renegotiation agreement for the year ended December 31, 1943, was dated August 30, 1945, and eliminated $2,586,594 of excessive profits after consolidated renegotiation of Airco and 15 named subsidiaries, but recited that no part of the profits to be eliminated were allocated to the subsidiaries.

The renegotiation agreement for the year ended December 31, 1944, was dated the_day of January 1946, and eliminated $905,984 of excessive profits after consolidated renegotiation of Airco and 16 named subsidiaries, but recited that no part of the profits to be eliminated were allocated to the subsidiaries.

There is no reference in any of the agreements to "accelerated” or § 124(d) additional amortization, and presumably none was allowed, the right to a renegotiation rebate being saved instead. It will be seen that all the profits were allocated to the parent and all the amortization to the subsidiaries. Nevertheless, there is no reason to doubt, and the parties assume that the benefit of the certificates of necessity issued to the subsidiaries, and resultant 60-month amortization, was conferred on the parent in view of the fact that the financial data used was consolidated. The subsidiaries, however, were not formally parties to the agreements.

This sets up the first and largest issue between the parties here. Plaintiff asserts that in computation of the statutory renegotiation rebates, the plaintiff should receive the benefit of certificates of necessity issued to subsidiaries, because it received in' consolidated renegotiation the benefit of the amortization attributable to them, other than the "accelerated” § 124(d) portion. In a consolidated renegotiation, the § 124 amortization was always thrown into the cost pot the same as any other cost.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Rawlins v. United States
686 F.2d 903 (Court of Claims, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
557 F.2d 237, 23 Cont. Cas. Fed. 81,394, 214 Ct. Cl. 332, 1977 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 60, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/airco-inc-v-united-states-cc-1977.