BP Exploration & Oil Inc. v. United States

13 F. App'x 992, 13 Fed. Appx. 992, 13 F. App’x 992, 88 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5016, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 14820, 2001 WL 735792
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedJune 29, 2001
DocketNo. 00-5100
StatusPublished

This text of 13 F. App'x 992 (BP Exploration & Oil Inc. 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.

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BP Exploration & Oil Inc. v. United States, 13 F. App'x 992, 13 Fed. Appx. 992, 13 F. App’x 992, 88 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5016, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 14820, 2001 WL 735792 (Fed. Cir. 2001).

Opinion

LOURIE, Circuit Judge.

BP Exploration & Oil Inc. appeals from the decision of the United States Court of Federal Claims granting the government’s motion for summary judgment that BP’s predecessor-in-interest, Sohio Petroleum Co. (“SPC”), was not entitled to deduct interest paid by its corporate parent, Standard Oil Company of Ohio, and other corporate affiliates (collectively “Standard Oil”) in determining SPC’s net income limitation for calculating its windfall profit tax. BP Exploration & Oil Inc. v. United States, 46 Fed. Cl. 526 (2000). Because we conclude that Standard Oil’s interest expense is not properly characterized as a business expense paid or incurred by SPC for purposes of calculating SPC’s windfall profit tax liability, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

BP is the successor-in-interest of SPC, which was one hundred percent owned by Standard Oil during the relevant period from 1984 to 1985. BP, 46 Fed. Cl. at 527. Standard Oil issued debt in its own name to fund the cash needs of SPC and other corporate affiliates. Standard Oil paid the interest on this debt. Id. SPC was engaged in the business of finding and producing crude oil and natural gas and owned an interest in properties that produced crude oil subject to the windfall profit tax. Id. at 528.

Congress enacted the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act in 1980 in response to the excessive “windfall profits”that oil producers were expected to earn following deregulation of oil prices. See Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act of 1980, Pub.L. No. 96-223, 94 Stat. 229 (“the Act”), repealed by Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, Pub.L. No. 100-418, § 1941(a), 102 Stat. 1107, 1322. The Act imposed a temporary excise tax on domestic oil producers and royalty owners on their windfall profit attributable to price deregulation. BP, 46 Fed. Cl. at 529. The windfall profit on each barrel of oil, however, was subject to a net income limitation (“NIL”). I.R.C. § 4988. The NIL provided that the windfall profit on a barrel of oil could not exceed ninety percent of the net income attributable to that barrel. Id.

The NIL calculation at issue in this case is determined, pursuant to I.R.C. § 4988(b)(2)(A), by dividing “the taxable income from the property for the taxable year attributable to taxable crude oil” by the number of barrels of taxable oil from that property for that year. According to the accompanying regulation, the “taxpayer’s taxable income from the property” is determined by subtracting from the taxpayer’s gross income “all allowable deductions attributable to the production of taxable crude oil that would be subtracted in determining taxable income from the property under section 613(a).” Treas. Reg. § 51.4988-2(b) (emphasis added).

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Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
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BP Exploration & Oil Inc. v. United States
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13 F. App'x 992, 13 Fed. Appx. 992, 13 F. App’x 992, 88 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5016, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 14820, 2001 WL 735792, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bp-exploration-oil-inc-v-united-states-cafc-2001.