American Airlines, Inc. v. Commissioner

144 T.C. No. 2, 144 T.C. 24, 2015 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 2
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJanuary 13, 2015
DocketDocket 15957-11
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 144 T.C. No. 2 (American Airlines, Inc. v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Airlines, Inc. v. Commissioner, 144 T.C. No. 2, 144 T.C. 24, 2015 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 2 (tax 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

PARIS, Judge:

This case is before the Court on the parties’ cross-motions for partial summary judgment under Rule 121. 1 The issue for decision in the partial summary judgment is whether the Court has jurisdiction pursuant to section 7436(a) over respondent’s imposition of employment taxes for taxable periods 2003 and 2004. The Court holds that it has jurisdiction.

Background

The record establishes and/or the parties do not dispute the following. Petitioner was a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Fort Worth, Texas, when it filed the petition.

A. Petitioner’s Business and Petitioner’s Workers

Petitioner is a subsidiary of AMR Corp., one of the largest commercial airlines in the world. Petitioner has South American air route authority, among others, and runs the routes and operations in four South American countries: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru (South American routes). The South American routes include flights that originate and terminate in South America without making landfall in the United States, as well as flights between South American cities and Miami, Florida. The South American routes do not involve any city or airport in the United States besides Miami.

This case involves petitioner’s foreign flight attendants who staff the South American routes. The foreign flight attendants are domiciled in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, or Peru. The foreign flight attendants who work on flights that originate or terminate in Miami are issued restrictive C-l/D combined transit and crewman visas. 2

The foreign flight attendants who work on flights between South America and Miami spend minimal time in the United States. When they are working on a flight to or from Miami, time in the United States includes pre- and post-flight time, flight time in U.S. airspace, rest time in the United States after a flight to Miami, and FAA-mandated training at least once per year. The foreign flight attendants typically leave the United States within 12 hours of arrival and nearly always leave within 24 hours of arrival. They currently are paid on a “block-to-block” basis, meaning that they are compensated only for the period beginning when the aircraft pushes off from the blocks of the departure gate and ending when it arrives at the blocks of the destination gate. The foreign flight attendants are uncompensated for any other time they are required to be at work, including pre- and post-flight time and training sessions.

The foreign flight attendants were hired by petitioner’s foreign branches (not subsidiaries) in the respective South American countries, and the branches manage the foreign flight attendants and pay their salaries. Petitioner’s domestic payroll headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, does not participate in the foreign branch payroll. The foreign branches are responsible for issuing the foreign flight attendants’ checks (which are paid in the local foreign currency) and withholding taxes under the law of the country of origin. The foreign branches withhold only the country of origin’s income taxes and its equivalent social security taxes if applicable.

Petitioner originally acquired the South American routes around 1990 from the now-dissolved Eastern Airlines. Petitioner continued Eastern Airlines’ practice of foreign branch withholding and has never withheld U.S. income or FICA taxes from the foreign flight attendants’ salaries. Moreover, petitioner has never paid employment taxes, including FICA or FUTA taxes, with respect to the foreign flight attendants. The foreign flight attendants have never submitted Forms W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, nor has petitioner ever issued Forms W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, to the foreign flight attendants.

B. 1992-96 Audit

Initially petitioner’s returns for tax periods 1992-96 were audited. The focus of respondent’s audit was petitioner’s potential liability for employment taxes 3 relating to the foreign flight attendants. Petitioner, then as now, contended that it was not obligated to pay employment taxes with respect to the foreign flight attendants because petitioner was entitled to “section 530 relief”. Respondent’s Appeals Office (Appeals) fully conceded the employment tax liabilities for the 1992-96 tax periods pursuant to section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 (RA ’78), Pub. L. No. 95-600, 92 Stat. at 2885, as amended. 4 In the course of the audit, Appeals created an administrative file, entitled the Appeals Case Memorandum, summarizing petitioner’s and respondent’s positions and explaining its conclusions. Petitioner obtained the Appeals Case Memorandum for the 1992-96 audit through a Freedom of Information Act request. The Appeals Case Memorandum states that petitioner is entitled to RA ’78 sec. 530 relief for taxable periods 1992-96 and should be entitled to relief from employment taxes for workers in substantially similar positions for other periods. See RA ’78 sec. 530(a)(2)(B). At the close of the audit respondent agreed not to audit petitioner’s returns on this issue for tax periods 1997-2002.

C. 2003-04 Audit

Respondent conducted an audit for petitioner’s 2003 and 2004 taxable periods. The focus of the examination was substantially similar to that of the 1992-96 audit. Petitioner contended that it was not liable for employment taxes or the mandatory 30% withholding tax on nonresident aliens under section 1441 5 with respect to the foreign flight attendants’ salaries because the “business visitor exception” 6 and/or RA ’78 sec. 530 relief applied. In connection with the 2003-04 examination, respondent issued Technical Advice Memorandum (TAM) 201014051 on December 18, 2009. The TAM concluded that petitioner was liable for employment taxes with respect to the remuneration paid to foreign flight attendants for services performed in the United States unless the “business visitor exception” applied pursuant to sections 861(a)(3) and 864(b)(1). Because the employment tax regime under subtitle C applied (whether or not the business visitor exception waived withholding requirements), the TAM held that the flight attendants’ remuneration was not subject to withholding under section 1441. See sec. 1.1441-4(b)(l), Income Tax Regs. Moreover, the TAM stated that “entitlement to relief under section 530 is not properly at issue in this case” because the case did not involve a worker classification. 7

Respondent’s exam team and petitioner did not reach an agreement, and respondent sent petitioner a 30-day letter on February 3, 2010. On March 11, 2010, petitioner timely sent a formal protest challenging the 30-day letter on the basis of petitioner’s continuously maintained position that it is eligible for RA ’78 sec. 530 relief with respect to the remuneration paid to the foreign flight attendants by the foreign branches for services performed in the United States.

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

Related

Veleta Williams
U.S. Tax Court, 2025
Belagio Fine Jewelry, Inc.
U.S. Tax Court, 2024
Reflectxion Resources, Inc. v. Commissioner
2020 T.C. Memo. 114 (U.S. Tax Court, 2020)
B G Painting, Inc. v. Comm'r
2016 T.C. Memo. 62 (U.S. Tax Court, 2016)
Badruddoza v. Comm'r
2015 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 49 (U.S. Tax Court, 2015)
Digu Corp. Deluxe Cab v. Comm'r
2015 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 34 (U.S. Tax Court, 2015)
Medical Weight Control Specialist v. Comm'r
2015 T.C. Memo. 52 (U.S. Tax Court, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 T.C. No. 2, 144 T.C. 24, 2015 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-airlines-inc-v-commissioner-tax-2015.