Basr Partnership v. United States

795 F.3d 1338, 116 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5432, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 13617, 2015 WL 4603743
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedJuly 29, 2015
Docket2014-5037
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 795 F.3d 1338 (Basr Partnership v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Basr Partnership v. United States, 795 F.3d 1338, 116 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5432, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 13617, 2015 WL 4603743 (Fed. Cir. 2015).

Opinions

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge CHEN. Concurring opinion filed by Circuit Judge O’MALLEY. Dissenting opinion filed by Chief Judge PROST.

CHEN, Circuit Judge.

This case is an appeal from a tax readjustment and refund action filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (Claims Court). Section 6501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C. or Code) prohibits the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from assessing tax if more than three years has elapsed from the date of the tax return. Section 6501(c)(1), however, recognizes an exception to this three-year rule and suspends the statute of limitations in cases involving “a false or fraudulent return with the intent to evade tax.” The Claims Court determined that § 6501(a)’s three-year statute of limitations barred the IRS from administratively adjusting, in 2010, the 1999 partnership tax return filed by plaintiff-appellee BASR Partnership (BASR). See BASR P’ship v. United States, 113 Fed.Cl. 181 (2013). The Government appealed. Although the Government does not argue that BASR itself acted with the intent to evade tax, the Government does contend that BASR’s outside counsel, an attorney involved in structuring certain financial transactions reported on the 1999 return, acted “with the intent to evade tax.” According to the Government, this attorney’s conduct triggered § 6501(c)(1) and suspended the three-year limitation on the IRS’s ability to assess and impose tax on BASR for the 1999 tax return. The Claims Court disagreed and held that § 6501(e)(l)’s suspension of the three-year limitation applies only when the taxpayer — and not a third party — acts with the requisite “intent to evade tax.” Because we agree with the Claims Court, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

I

The IRS has authority to review tax returns filed by a taxpayer. I.R.C. § 6201(a). During this review, if the IRS concludes that the taxpayer has underpaid, the IRS assesses those taxes and imposes any additional penalties for the underpayment. Id.; see, e.g., § 6663. As a general rule, the IRS must make any such assessment “within 3 years after the return was filed.” I.R.C. § 6501(a). The Code establishes certain exceptions that may extend or suspend this three-year limitations period. See generally I.R.C. § 6501(c). Section 6501(c)(1) recognizes one such exception: “In the case of a false or fraudulent return with the intent to evade tax, the tax may be assessed ... at any time.” I.R.C. § 6501(c)(1).

The concept of limiting, the time period during which the IRS could assess tax originated almost 100 years ago in the same statutory provision that authorized the IRS to impose penalties for underpayment. See Revenue Act of 1918, Pub.L. No. 54-254, 40 Stat. 1057. Section 250(b) of the 1918 Act authorized the IRS to impose penalties when an underpayment resulted either from negligence or a “false or fraudulent” intent to evade the tax. The Act barred the IRS from imposing a penalty if “the return is made in good faith and the understatement of the amount in the return is not due to any fault of the taxpayer.” Jd. Along the same lines, § 250(d) limited the time during which the IRS could assess tax after the filing of a tax return, but explicitly provided that this period could be suspended if the case involved a “false or fraudulent return[ ] with intent to evade the tax.” After recodification and reorganization the provision authorizing penalties for fraudulent returns was separated from the section governing extension and suspension of the statute of [1340]*1340limitations. Compare I.R.C. § 6663(a), with I.R.C. § 6501(c)(1).

The taxes at issue here relate to the activities of a partnership. Under the Code, partnerships like BASR are “pass-through” entities. I.R.C. § 701. This means that although the partnership prepares a tax return, I.R.C. § 6031, the partnership itself does not incur tax liability, I.R.C. § 701. Instead, any tax liability arising from items on a partnership return “passes through” to the individual partners, who are then liable for their “distributive share” of the partnership’s gains and losses. Id. §§ 701-702. Because a partnership and its individual partners are treated differently for taxation purposes, Congress enacted the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA), which established “coordinated procedures for determining the proper treatment of ‘partnership items’ at the partnership level in a single, unified audit and judicial proceeding.” Alpha I, L.P., ex rel. Sands v. United States, 682 F.3d 1009, 1019 (Fed.Cir.2012).

Under TEFRA, when the IRS disagrees with the tax treatment of a partnership item on any return, the IRS must determine the proper treatment of the partnership item at the partnership level. I.R.C. § 6221. If the IRS finds an underpayment, the IRS must send a final partnership administrative adjustment (FPAA) to the partners. Id. §§ 6223(a)(2), 6223(d)(2), 6225(a). If the partnership disagrees, it may file a “petition for readjustment” in one of several fora, including the Claims Court. Id. § 6226(a); see also 28 U.S.C. § 1508 (“The Court of Federal Claims shall have jurisdiction to hear and to render judgment upon any petition under section 6226 ... of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.”).

II

The facts relevant to this appeal are undisputed. In 1999, the members of the Pettinati family were about to realize a large capital gain from the sale of their printing business. Before they consummated the sale, Erwin Mayer (Mayer), a lawyer in the Chicago office of the now-defunct law firm of Jenkens & Gilchrist, contacted the Pettinati family and proposed “a tax advantaged investment opportunity.” J.A. 1054. Believing that this opportunity could result in tax savings, the Pettinatis hired Jenkens & Gilchrist, which recommended a series of transactions that could reduce the amount of gain reported to the IRS upon the sale of the family printing business. At the end of these transactions, all stock in the printing business would be owned by a family partnership, BASR. The Pettinatis could then sell the printing business by directing BASR to sell its shares to the buyer.

In addition to recommending the transactions, three attorneys at Jenkens & Gilchrist signed a tax opinion document attesting to the legitimacy of the transactions. Mayer characterized the transactions as a “tax-advantaged investment opportunity.” J.A. 1054. Finally, the Pettinatis received guidance on reporting these transactions on them 1999 tax returns in a manner that was consistent with the opinion letters. The Petti-natis hired Malone & Bailey PLLC to prepare their tax returns. While Malone & Bailey had a long-standing relationship with the Pettinatis, it had no prior connection with Jenkens & Gilchrist. Malone considered the legal opinions provided to the Pettinati family when preparing the BASR and Pettinati tax returns. Ultimately, by creating the BASR Partnership, the Pettinatis greatly reduced the tax liability arising from the sale of their printing business.

[1341]*1341Five years later, in 2004, the IRS received a list of Jenkens & Gilchrist clients, including the Pettinatis, who had employed this type of tax-advantaged investment structure.

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795 F.3d 1338, 116 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5432, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 13617, 2015 WL 4603743, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/basr-partnership-v-united-states-cafc-2015.