Boensel v. United States

99 Fed. Cl. 607, 108 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5626, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1675, 2011 WL 3438401
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedAugust 5, 2011
DocketNo. 09-627T
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 99 Fed. Cl. 607 (Boensel v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boensel v. United States, 99 Fed. Cl. 607, 108 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5626, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1675, 2011 WL 3438401 (uscfc 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

FIRESTONE, Judge.

Pending before the court are the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. In this action, the plaintiff, Donald Boensel, seeks the recovery of $111,860 in federal estate tax, which the plaintiff remitted to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) following the death of his father, John Boensel, in 1999. The core question in these motions for summary judgment is whether the remittance made by the plaintiff to the IRS following the death of his father in 1999 is more properly characterized as a tax deposit or as a tax payment. If the 1999 remittance is a tax deposit, then the plaintiff may be entitled to recover the amount claimed. However, if it is a tax payment, then the plaintiffs claim falls outside the three-year tax refund recovery period. For the reasons set forth below, the court finds that the 1999 remittance was a tax payment. As such, the plaintiffs claim to recover the alleged overpayment of estate tax is outside the recovery period. The plaintiffs motion for summary judgment is therefore DENIED; the government’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.

I. UNDISPUTED FACTS

Donald W. Boensel (“plaintiff’) was appointed executor of the estate of his father, John L. Boensel (“Mr. Boensel”). Defendant’s Proposed Finding of Uneontroverted Fact (“DPF”) 3. Mr. Boensel died on August 30, 1999 in Louisiana, about one year after the death of his wife, Thelma Boensel (“Mrs. Boensel”). DPF 1, 4. At the time of his father’s death, the plaintiff lived in California and was dealing with personal issues and the failure of his business. DPF 7. To handle the estate, the plaintiff retained the accountants (the firm of LaPorte, Sehrt, Romig & Hand) and lawyers (the firm of Liskow & Lewis) with whom his father had done business for years, and who had handled Mrs. Boensel’s estate only a year before. DPF 8-10. Because the value of Mr. Boensel’s assets remained virtually unchanged from the time of Mrs. Boensel’s death, the plaintiff did not believe that much additional work needed to be done to prepare his father’s estate tax returns. DPF 13. Although a federal estate tax return had been filed for Mrs. Boensel’s estate, Mr. and Mrs. Boensel had their attorneys arrange their financial affairs such that Mrs. Boensel would not incur any federal estate tax. Rather, through Mr. and Mrs. Boensel’s estate planning, the tax burden shifted to Mr. Boensel upon his death. DPF 84.

Using the information they had gathered for Mrs. Boensel’s estate and the information the plaintiff provided to them, the plaintiffs lawyers prepared a descriptive list of the assets they believed Mr. Boensel owned at the time of his death. DPF 16. The lawyers grouped Mr. Boensel’s property into three categories: a 1/2 interest in community property that Mr. Boensel held with Mrs. Boensel in which Mr. Boensel had disclaimed Mrs. Boensel’s interest after her death;1 a 7/8 [609]*609interest in community property that the Boensels had owned together in which Mr. Boensel had not disclaimed his interest;2 and a 3/4 interest in real estate in Alton, Louisiana that had belonged to Mrs. Boensel separately before her death. DPF 17-21. On March 15, 1999, the plaintiffs lawyers sent this list to the plaintiffs accountants with a letter describing these interests. DPF 16. The lawyers also wrote to the plaintiff, enclosing copies of their letter to the accountants and the descriptive list, and asked that he provide any additional information. DPF 23.

As the due dates for the state and federal estate tax returns grew closer, the plaintiffs lawyers became concerned that the returns would not be filed on time. DPF 27. In a letter dated April 30,1999, they informed the plaintiff that, while the time for filing the estate tax return could be extended by six months, “Interest, and possibly penalties, will accrue on any amount determined to be due that is not paid with the request for extension.” DPF 28; Def.’s Ex. 9. The plaintiffs accountants provided him with an estimate of the estate’s federal tax liabilities and advised him to remit $435,000 to the IRS by the original due date of the return, May 30,1999. Plaintiffs Proposed Findings of Uncontro-verted Fact (“PPF”) 1; DPF 32. The accountants suggested that the plaintiff include an additional amount of ten percent over the amount they estimated was owed as a “cushion.” Def.’s Exs. 1, Boensel Dep. 45:12-21,4. After the accountants provided him with the estimated federal estate tax liability, the plaintiff began gathering funds to “pay [] federal estate taxes.” DPF 36-38.3 The plaintiff wrote to banks at which his father had accounts, asking that they assemble the funds he needed to send to the IRS. Id. The plaintiff explained the urgency of his request to one bank by stating, “The payment is due to the U.S. Department of Treasury by May 30,1999, but actually June 1,1999 because of the weekend and the Memorial Day holiday.” DPF 40. On May 31, 1999, the plaintiff instructed Hibernia Bank to issue a check from his father’s account to “Department of Treasury” for $435,000 and to “memo-mark” the cheek, “Payment of Estimated Estate Taxes.” DPF 41. He explained that an employee of his accountants’ firm would come to the bank the next day to pick up the cheek and deliver it and “the necessary accompanying documents” to the local IRS office. DPF 42. The IRS received the check on June 1, 1999. PPF 2; DPF 43-44. The IRS credited the remittance to the plaintiffs account using a Payment Posting Voucher, Form 3244, which identified the $435,000 as a “subsequent payment” and listed in the “remarks” box “4768.” DPF 43-44. Form 4768 is the form used to request an extension to file a federal estate tax return. The IRS granted the estate a six-month extension of time to file its return, from May 30, 1999, to November 30,1999.4 PPF 3; DPF 45.

After making the $435,000 remittance, the plaintiff believed that he had no further obligations regarding his father’s federal estate taxes. DPF 57. However, in February 2005, the IRS sent the plaintiff a notice acknowledging that the estate had made a $435,000 payment on June 1, 1999, but stating that the plaintiff was still required to file an estate tax return. Def.’s Ex. 23. The plaintiff responded on March 1, 2005 by letter and promised to undertake the work necessary to complete the return, stating, “As you pointed out in your correspondence, $435,000 has been paid as estate tax in this matter, which I believe was about 10% more than the accounting estimate.” Def.’s Ex. 24. The plaintiff stated, “My recollection is that this was based on a recommendation by the accounting firm, LaPorte, Seht, Robig, et al, which was handling the estate and had created a tax return which may have been pro forma at that time.” Id. The IRS sent the [610]*610plaintiff a second notice of overdue estate tax return on July 11, 2006, Def.’s Ex. 25, and the plaintiff responded by letter of August 10, 2006, stating that he was nearly finished with the estate tax return, Def.’s Ex. 26.

In completing the federal estate tax return for Mr. Boensel’s estate, the plaintiff used his accountants’ and attorneys’ work product from Mrs. Boensel’s estate, because not much had changed between her death and Mr. Boensel’s death. Def.’s Ex. 1, Boensel Dep. 31:10-32:19. Although the plaintiff reached out to his former accountants regarding the treatment of certain items on the return, he was unable to obtain any professional help and completed the return on his own. DPF 75. The IRS received the estate’s Form 706 tax return on September 6, 2006. DPF 76.

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Bluebook (online)
99 Fed. Cl. 607, 108 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5626, 2011 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1675, 2011 WL 3438401, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boensel-v-united-states-uscfc-2011.