Clorox Products Manufacturing, Co. v. Director, Division of Taxation

24 N.J. Tax 223
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedJune 19, 2008
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 24 N.J. Tax 223 (Clorox Products Manufacturing, Co. v. Director, Division of Taxation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clorox Products Manufacturing, Co. v. Director, Division of Taxation, 24 N.J. Tax 223 (N.J. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

LINTNER, J.A.D.

The Director of the Division of Taxation (Director or Division) appeals the Tax Court’s reversal of a Corporation Business Tax (CBT) Act, N.J.S.A. 54:10A-1 to -41, assessment against Clorox Products Manufacturing Company (Taxpayer) in the amount of $84,924.43 for the years 1998, 1999, and 2000, including a five [225]*225percent post-amnesty penalty under N.J.S.A. 54:53-18. Taxpayer sought CBT depreciation deductions taken for assets received in a 1996 stock-for-asset swap with its parent, The Clorox Company (Parent), by continuing to report the same straight-line depreciation basis used by its Parent. Disallowing the deduction, the Director determined that Taxpayer, as a separate and distinct corporation, erroneously continued to use and report the asset basis for the transferred property in the same manner as the Parent did, without taking into account the excess depreciation adjustment the Parent should have taken advantage of, but did not, at the time of the transfer.1

Taxpayer filed a complaint in the Tax Court, seeking to reinstate the depreciation taken for the three years in question, and challenging the constitutionality of the post amnesty penalty. Following a hearing on cross-motions for summary judgment, Judge Bianco issued a written opinion, finding that the applicable Administrative Code Regulation, N.J.A.C. 18:7-5.2(a)(2)(v), did not require the Parent to take the excess depreciation deduction when the assets were transferred and, therefore, Taxpayer could continue the straight-line depreciation schedule previously used by the Parent, taking advantage of the deduction afforded by that schedule. Clorox Prods. Mfg. Co. v. Dir., Div. of Taxation, 23 N.J.Tax 260, 274-75 (Tax 2006). Judge Bianco further determined that his decision rejecting the Division’s assessment rendered Taxpayer’s constitutional challenge to the post-amnesty penalty moot. Ibid. The Division appeals. We now affirm Judge Bianco’s order vacating the assessment, and dismiss Taxpayer’s cross-appeal as moot.

To understand the issues raised in this appeal, we briefly describe the concept of “uncoupled” depreciation methodology before reciting the relevant undisputed facts. In 1981, the federal government enacted the Economic Recovery Tax Act, which permitted accelerated depreciation under the accelerated cost recov[226]*226ery system. Because our Legislature was concerned that accelerated depreciation would cause a significant loss of revenue to the State, it enacted legislation that required use of the slower straight-line depreciation method2 for New Jersey CBT returns, thus “uncoupling” state and federal depreciation methods for determining net income. N.J.S.A. 54:10A-4(k)(2)(F)(i). Uncoupling lasted until July 1993 when the Legislature amended N.J.S.A. 54:10A-4(k)(2)(F)(i), to bring New Jersey into harmony with federal tax laws. Because the assets in question were used during the 1981 to 1993 time period, the uncoupling legislation applies here.

Taxpayer, a Delaware corporation, engages in the business of manufacturing laundry and cleaning products in New Jersey. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Parent company. The Parent filed tax returns in New Jersey from 1973 to 1996, using the uncoupled straight-line method to compute the depreciation deductions on its post-1980 CBT returns. Thus, it took a lower depreciation deduction on its pre- and post-uncoupled CBT returns than the accelerated method permitted by the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and reported a higher basis for its property.

On July 1, 1996, the Parent transferred its manufacturing operations and assets to Taxpayer in exchange for one hundred percent of Taxpayer’s stock. The transfer qualified as a tax-free property-for-stock transaction under Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) § 351.3 It consisted of operations and assets that qualified as “uncoupled property” placed in service between January 1, 1981 and July 7, 1993.

Taxpayer began to transact business in New Jersey on July 1, 1996, and filed its first CBT return for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1997, using the same straight-line depreciation method for the [227]*227uncoupled assets formerly utilized by its Parent. It continued to depreciate the uncoupled property on the CBT returns for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1998, June 30, 1999, and June 30, 2000, using the straight-line method.

On March 5, 2002, the Division notified Taxpayer that it was conducting an audit of its returns, including the deductions taken for depreciation. On September 25, 2002, the Division informed Taxpayer that, based on the audit, it was adjusting Taxpayer’s CBT returns for 1998, 1999, and 20004 to reflect a preliminary assessment of $74,858, based on disallowance of the amount of depreciation Taxpayer took relating to the tax-free transfer.5

At the time the Parent filed its final CBT return in 1996, it did not take advantage of the accelerated depreciation deduction permitted under N. J.A.C. 18:7-5.2(a)(2)(v):

Gain or loss on property sold or exchanged is to be determined with reference to the amount properly to be recognized in determination of Federal taxable income. However, on the physical disposal of recovery property, whether or not a gain or loss is properly to be recognized under the Federal Internal Revenue Code, there shall be allmved as a deduction any excess or there must be restored as an item of income any deficiency of depreciation disallowed under (a)lx above over related depreciation claimed on that property under (a)2iv above. A statutory merger or consolidation shall not constitute a disposal of recovery property. (Emphasis added).

On appeal, the Division asserts, as it did before Judge Bianco, that the CBT Act and the related regulations direct that only the Parent is entitled to take the deduction afforded upon the disposal of uncoupled assets and, therefore, Taxpayer was required to take into account the federal accelerated tax basis used for those assets, thus reducing its deduction. In a certification prepared by Ralph A. Lelie, a Conferee,6 the Division provided a mathematical [228]*228example to explain its position using a hypothetical uncoupled asset with a cost of $100,000. He explained that if the Parent took New Jersey depreciation of $6250 in 1995 and $12,500 in 1996, the Taxpayer takes the asset with a depreciation basis of $81,250. If, however, the Parent had taken the excess depreciation it should have taken at the time of the transfer, but did not, it would have had additional depreciation of $18,250. The $18,250 deduction represents the excess of the accelerated cost recovery system taken under the IRC from the straight-line depreciation and yields a basis of $63,000. Lelie concluded that the Parent “essentially passed on its ‘excess depreciation adjustment’ ... on [its] final CBT return” to Taxpayer “contrary to the direction of N.J.AC. 18:7—5.2(a)(2)(v),” thus requiring the Taxpayer to commence its depreciable basis at $63,000 rather than $81,250.

In reaching his conclusion, Judge Bianco rejected Taxpayer’s assertion that the transfer did not amount to a “disposal of recovery property” under N.J.AC. 18:7-5.2(a)(2)(v) because there was no physical movement of property.

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24 N.J. Tax 223, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clorox-products-manufacturing-co-v-director-division-of-taxation-njsuperctappdiv-2008.