AT & T Corp. & Subsidiaries v. United States

63 Fed. Cl. 209, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 317, 2004 WL 2729778
United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided December 1, 2004·No. No. 01-280T·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

OPINION

REGINALD W. GIBSON, Senior Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Before us is plaintiffs October 28, 2004 Motion for Reconsideration, filed pursuant to RCFC 59. Said motion arises from our October 18, 2004 opinion denying plaintiffs motion for summary judgment and granting defendant’s cross-motion for summary judgment. See AT & T Corp. & Subsidiaries v. United States, 62 Fed.Cl. 490 (2004). The action underlying the instant motion required us to determine the applicable end date for the calculation of interest due to the taxpayer on a 1978 overpayment of tax that was credited to offset a 1981 tax deficiency, and not refunded to the taxpayer. In this connection, we determined that, under the facts presented by the record, the applicable date upon which overpayment interest ceased to accrue preceded the date on which overpayment interest began to accrue. Thus, we held, given the foregoing, that AT & T was not entitled to any interest with respect to the 1978 overpayment at issue.

AT & T now alleges in its motion for reconsideration that this court erred “(i) in stating that Technical Advice Memorandum 9443007, 1994 WL 589253 ‘was later directly contradicted!;]’ (ii) in holding that Field Service Advice 199925005, 1999 WL 424832 ‘carries greater persuasive weight!;]’ and, (iii) as a result of the aforementioned mistakes, in failing to consider and apply the rationale of Technical Advice Memorandum 9443007 as it applies to the facts of this case.” P’s Mot. for Reconsid. at 1. Given the foregoing, plaintiff vehemently argues that it is entitled to prevail on the instant motion for reconsideration, because, absent the alleged errors cited by plaintiff, it must be accorded judgment as a matter of law. For the reasons set forth infra, we hold that plaintiff has failed to establish a satisfactory basis for its motion for reconsideration, in light of the standard for granting said motion. Consequently, we are constrained to DENY plaintiffs motion for reconsideration of our judgment on the merits.

II. BACKGROUND

In our published opinion addressing the underlying litigation on the merits, we set forth the operative facts in substantial detail. See AT & T Corp. & Subsidiaries v. United States, 62 Fed.Cl. at 491-92. Consequently, our factual recitation herein shall be brief, and will include only a summation of our October 18,2004 opinion.

As a result of AT & T’s corporate income tax return filing relative to the 1984 tax year, AT & T became eligible to claim a tentative refund of its 1981 taxes (“1981 refund”). [211] Said refund issued to plaintiff on March 25, 1985. Thereafter, a portion of the 1981 tax refund was determined to be in error, and was therefore recaptured via a September 14, 1994 assessment relative to the 1981 tax year (“1981 deficiency”). On or about May 19, 1995, an abatement of tax was posted to plaintiffs 1978 tax account (“1978 overpayment”), which also traced its origins to the 1984 tax year. A portion of the 1978 overpayment was credited to plaintiffs 1981 tax account on or about June 16, 1995, to fully offset plaintiffs deficiency therein. Plaintiff was not accorded any interest on the portion of the 1978 tax overpayment that was credited thusly to the 1981 deficiency.

Interest calculations for overpayments of tax are governed by 26 U.S.C. § 6611, which provides that, when an overpayment is credited to offset a deficiency, the taxpayer shall be accorded interest “from the date of the overpayment to the due date of the amount against which the credit is taken.” 26 U.S.C. § 6611(b)(1). AT & T argued that, pursuant to the cited statute, it was entitled to interest on the portion of the 1978 overpayment that was credited to its 1981 deficiency. Both parties stipulated that the effective date of the overpayment was March 15, 1985, which coincides with the due date of plaintiffs 1984 taxes from which the overpayment originated. Moreover, both parties concurred that March 15, 1985 was therefore “the date of the overpayment” referenced in 26 U.S.C. § 6611(b)(1). Additionally, plaintiff averred that interest accrued until March 25, 1985, which coincides with the date of the erroneous tentative refund that gave rise to the 1981 deficiency. March 25,1985 was, according to AT & T, “the due date of the amount against which the credit is taken,” under 26 U.S.C. § 6611(b)(1). As a consequence, plaintiff alleged an entitlement to interest for the ten (10) day period between March 15, 1985 and March 25, 1985.

In contrast, the defendant contended that 26 U.S.C. § 6611 and Federal Circuit precedent mandated that the ending date (“to-date”) for the purpose of overpayment interest calculations was the due date of the taxes for the tax year (to wit, 1981) against which the overpayment was credited. Hence, as the subject portion of the 1978 overpayment was credited to offset a 1981 tax deficiency, the to-date for overpayment interest calculations was March 15,1982 — the date on which the taxpayer’s 1981 taxes became due.

After a thorough discussion of 26 U.S.C. § 6611, corresponding Treasury Regulation § 301.6611-1, and a recent Federal Circuit opinion interpreting same,1 we concluded that the government’s legal position was correct. So concluding, we granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment and, correspondingly, denied plaintiffs cross-motion for summary judgment.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

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AT & T Corp. & Subsidiaries v. United States, 63 Fed. Cl. 209, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 317, 2004 WL 2729778 (uscfc 2004).

63 Fed. Cl. 209 (AT & T Corp. & Subsidiaries v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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