Curtis Inv. Co. v. Comm'r

909 F.3d 1339
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedDecember 6, 2018
DocketNo. 17-14573
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 909 F.3d 1339 (Curtis Inv. Co. v. Comm'r) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Curtis Inv. Co. v. Comm'r, 909 F.3d 1339 (11th Cir. 2018).

Opinion

WILSON, Circuit Judge:

In 2000, Curtis Investment Company (CIC) entered into a tax avoidance scheme known as a CARDS transaction, allowing it to claim a $27,724,620 capital loss on its annual tax return. In 2007, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner issued a Final Partnership Administrative Adjustment (FPAA) disallowing CIC's claimed capital loss and fee deductions on its 2000 tax return. The IRS also applied a gross valuation misstatement penalty under 26 U.S.C. §§ 6662 and 6664. CIC challenged the FPAA and penalties in Tax Court; the court upheld both. CIC now contends that the Tax Court erred by incorrectly applying the "economic substance" analysis and ignoring facts that supported CIC's reasonable cause defense. After review and with the benefit of oral *1343argument, we affirm the Tax Court's determinations.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

A. CARDS Basics

A Custom Adjustable Rate Debt Structure (CARDS) transaction is a tax-avoidance scheme involving a series of pre-arranged steps whereby (1) a tax-indifferent party not subject to U.S. taxation borrows foreign currency from a foreign bank, with interest due annually and principal due in a single "balloon" payment 30 years in the future, (2) a U.S. taxpayer purchases a small percentage of the loan proceeds-in the form of foreign currency or the bank's promissory note-in exchange for taking on joint liability for the entire loan, and (3) the U.S. taxpayer then exchanges the purchased foreign currency for U.S. dollars or redeems the promissory note. Currency exchanges and promissory note redemptions are taxable occurrences. The U.S. taxpayer claims that its tax basis in the exchanged currency or redeemed note is the full amount of the loan proceeds, not just the small percentage it actually paid for.

Section 1012 of the Internal Revenue Code provides that a taxpayer's basis in property is generally equal to its "cost" of acquiring the property, including any assumption of a seller's liabilities. This rule is premised on the expectation that buyers will fully pay the assumed liabilities. See Comm'r v. Tufts , 461 U.S. 300, 308-09, 103 S.Ct. 1826, 1831-32, 75 L.Ed.2d 863 (1983). In a CARDS transaction, the U.S. taxpayer is nominally responsible for payment of the entire principal amount of the tax-indifferent party's loan and thus can claim the entire amount as its basis. In these transactions, however, banks always "call" such loans after about one year, when a large percentage of the tax-indifferent party's loan proceeds are available to pay the loan at that time. Thus, the U.S. taxpayer is responsible for only slightly more than its small share of the loan proceeds rather than the entire loan amount but can still claim a large, artificially inflated tax loss to shelter unrelated income.

In August 2000, the IRS issued Notice 2000-44, warning taxpayers about generating artificial losses from schemes that purported to inflate their basis in assets. I.R.S. Notice 2000-44, 2000-2 C.B. 255. In March 2002, the IRS issued another notice that more specifically targeted the technical argument underlying CARDS transactions and imposed disclosure obligations on CARDS shelters' promoters and participants. See I.R.S. Notice 2002-21, 2002-1 C.B. 730. In 2005, the IRS offered a settlement initiative whereby taxpayers could avoid litigation and liability for a gross valuation misstatement penalty by conceding the claimed tax benefits from their CARDS shelters and paying a reduced penalty. See I.R.S. Announcement 2005-80, 2005-2 C.B. 967.

B. CIC's Background

Curtis Investment Company (CIC) is an investment holding company formed by Henry Curtis for the benefit of his family. Lonnie Baxter was named CIC's managing partner in 1986.1 Prior to 1995, Baxter made CIC's investment decisions with assistance from private money managers. In 1995, CIC hired Eric Zimmerman as an internal investment advisor. CIC alleges *1344that, since 1997, it has also relied upon business experts including Matt Levin, Barbara Coats, and others at Windham Brannon (Windham), as well as Thomas Rogers and his firm, Rogers & Watkins, for tax and business advice.

In 1998, Henry "Jay" Bird-son of Lonnie Baxter and president of a mortgage company called Birdhouse Mortgages-became managing partner of CIC. Bird formed an Investment Committee that, along with Zimmerman, created an asset-allocation plan for CIC. CIC planned to diversify its portfolio, borrowing funds at a low interest rate to make investments that would yield returns greater than the interest cost.

CIC's principal asset prior to February 2000 consisted of stock in American Business Products (ABP). ABP was sold via stock sale in February 2000, generating a $27-28 million capital gain for CIC. CIC's accountants estimated that CIC's partners would owe approximately $7 million in taxes on the gain realized on the ABP stock sale.

C. CIC's CARDS Transaction

In the fall of 2000, Barbara Coats of Windham learned about CARDS transactions from Roy Hahn, founder of Chenery Associates, Inc. (Chenery).2 After advisors from Windham met with Hahn, he presented a CARDS transaction proposal to Henry Bird and CIC. The transaction would involve a 30-year €35.3 million loan from HVB, a foreign bank,3 to Brondesbury Financial Trading, LLC (Brondesbury), a foreign tax-indifferent entity.4 The loan included a €5.295 million promissory note; CIC would purchase this note and assume joint and several liability on the full €35.3 million loan. Brondesbury would hold the residual €30 million in a HVB deposit account to pay interest, making CIC's €5.295 million note interest-free.

CIC contends that its advisors investigated the proposed transaction and parties involved. CIC negotiated loan terms and refused to proceed with the transaction unless it could invest its interest-free loan proceeds in other investment opportunities. CIC allegedly relied on Rogers & Watkins and Windham to independently analyze the tax consequences of CARDS transactions. These advisors studied a draft opinion letter from Brown & Wood (B&W), a New York law firm, which suggested that it was "more likely than not" that CARDS transactions had economic substance.

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Bluebook (online)
909 F.3d 1339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/curtis-inv-co-v-commr-ca11-2018.