Anchor Hocking Corp. v. United States

11 Cl. Ct. 173, 58 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6200, 1986 U.S. Claims LEXIS 769
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedNovember 14, 1986
DocketNo. 459-84T
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 11 Cl. Ct. 173 (Anchor Hocking Corp. 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
Anchor Hocking Corp. v. United States, 11 Cl. Ct. 173, 58 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6200, 1986 U.S. Claims LEXIS 769 (cc 1986).

Opinion

OPINION

MARGOLIS, Judge.

At issue in this tax refund case is whether the Secretary of the Treasury exceeded his authority in promulgating Treasury Regulation 1.994-l(c)(6)(v). The regulation prescribes a method of computing the combined taxable income of a Domestic International Sales Corporation and its related supplier.

Plaintiff asserts that the regulation is legislative in character, unauthorized, and invalid because it contravenes the language and intent of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S.C. [the Code]. The plaintiff seeks a refund of $38,674 for 1975 and 1976, plus interest, on the ground that the Internal Revenue Service had no authority to assess the taxes paid.

[174]*174The defendant seeks to uphold the regulation as a valid exercise of the Secretary’s authority that is consistent with the Code. Both parties have moved for summary judgment. The court grants the defendant’s motion for summary judgment and denies the plaintiff’s motion.

FACTS

The plaintiff, Anchor Hocking Corporation, is a domestic corporation that manufactures tableware products and other glass, plastic and pottery items sold domestically and abroad. In 1972, to take advantage of provisions in the Revenue Act of 1971 [Pub.Law No. 92-178, 85 Stat. 497], it incorporated Anchor Hocking International Corporation [AHI] as a wholly-owned subsidiary to act as its commission agent in connection with the export sale of its manufactured products, i.e., AHI was entitled to receive commissions from the plaintiff in accordance with the intercompany pricing rules of 26 U.S.C. § 994 (1976). AHI elected to be treated as a “Domestic International Sales Corporation” [“DISC”] under newly enacted sections 991 et seq. of the Code.

The DISC provisions of the Code (26 U.S.C. §§ 991-997 (1976)) were enacted to encourage exports of domestic products by placing domestic corporations on an economic par with corporations using foreign subsidiaries to sell exports. Prior to enactment, foreign subsidiaries had an advantage over domestic companies in that income from the activities of foreign subsidiaries was not taxed until it was repatriated. For a discussion on the DISC statutory scheme see Thomas International Limited v. United States, 6 Cl.Ct. 414, 416-17 (1984), rev’d, 773 F.2d 300 (Fed.Cir.1985), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 106 S.Ct. 1261, 89 L.Ed.2d 571 (1986).

The method employed to assist domestic exporters was a deferral of federal tax on income derived from exports. Under the statutory scheme, a domestic company could organize a DISC as a “shell” corporation whose sole function would be its use as an accounting device for measuring the amount of export earnings subject to tax deferral. The DISC itself is not taxed. Rather, its shareholders are taxed on a specified percentage of DISC income as if a dividend distribution had been made at the end of the taxable year. The remainder of the income, called accumulated DISC income, remains untaxed until it is actually distributed to the shareholders, or the DISC loses its special status.

In this case, AHI (the DISC) derived its income by acting as a commission agent for the plaintiff. Commissions “earned” by AHI were determined in accordance with intercompany pricing rules set forth in section 994 of the Code and were based on export sales volume. The commissions received by AHI for 1975 and 1976 (the tax years in question) were, respectively, $4,895,408 and $5,560,776.

AHI earned additional income during 1975 and 1976 by collecting export accounts receivable sold to it by plaintiff at a discount from face value. The difference between the face value of the accounts receivable and the sale price was $225,500 in 1975 and $198,256 in 1976. The appropriate tax treatment to be accorded these discounts is at the center of this controversy-

Plaintiff alleges that the discounts AHI earned are includable as income when calculating the “combined taxable income” [CTI] of parent and DISC under Code section 994, and that the discounts are interest expense that the plaintiff is entitled to apportion and deduct ratably from its various sources of income.

On the other hand, the defendant asserts that Treasury Regulation 1.994-l(c)(6)(v) effectively precludes such treatment by requiring that CTI be reduced by the total amount of the discount where accounts receivable are transferred by a related supplier to its DISC. The regulation provides:

(v) If an account receivable arising with respect to a sale of export property is transferred by the related supplier to a DISC which is a member of the same controlled group within the meaning of § 1.993-l(k) for an amount reflecting a [175]*175discount from the selling price taken into account in computing ... combined taxable income of the DISC and its related supplier, then the combined taxable income from such sale shall be reduced by the amount of the discount.

26 C.F.R. § 1.994-l(c)(6)(v)(1977) [emphasis added].

This regulation was promulgated under 26 U.S.C. § 7805 (1976), which generally empowers the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe regulations necessary to interpret the Code. The regulation limits the types of income includable in the CTI figure by treating discount expenses between a DISC and its related supplier as expenses directly related to the sale of export property. Such expenses are allocated and deducted from export income—the net effect being zero. Plaintiff asserts that the regulation exceeds the authority of the Secretary under § 7805 and is invalid because it amounts to legislation.

DISCUSSION

A. The Appropriate Standard of Review The standard of review used by this court to determine whether a Treasury Regulation promulgated under 26 U.S.C. § 7805 is invalid is whether the regulation is “unreasonable and plainly inconsistent with the revenue statutes.” Thomas International Limited v. United States, 773 F.2d 300, 303 (Fed.Cir.1985), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 106 S.Ct. 1261, 89 L.Ed.2d 571 (1986). This court generally must defer to Treasury Regulations that implement a Congressional mandate in some reasonable manner. Commissioner v. Portland Cement Co. of Utah, 450 U.S. 156, 169, 101 S.Ct. 1037, 1045, 67 L.Ed.2d 140 (1981); United States v. Correll, 389 U.S. 299, 307, 88 S.Ct. 445, 449, 19 L.Ed.2d 537 (1967). Regulations issued under the authority of § 7805(a) are entitled to less deference than those issued under a specific statutory grant of authority. United States v. Vogel Fertlizer Co., 455 U.S. 16

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11 Cl. Ct. 173, 58 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6200, 1986 U.S. Claims LEXIS 769, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anchor-hocking-corp-v-united-states-cc-1986.