Diamond Alkali Co. v. Heiner

39 F.2d 645, 8 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 10571, 1930 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1986, 1930 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) 9150, 8 A.F.T.R. (RIA) 10
District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania·Decided February 10, 1930·No. No. 5762·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

GIBSON, District Judge.

This suit has been brought by the plaintiff against the defendant to recover alleged overpayments of 1918 and 1920 income taxes which were made over protest and pursuant to threats of distraint. A jury trial was waived by both parties.

The claim of the plaintiff asserts improper assessment and collection from it of taxes for the years 1918 and 1920. First, it is alleged that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue assessed against the plaintiff, and the defendant wrongfully collected from it, a sum which should have been credited to [648]*648plaintiff as a reasonable deduction from the latter’s 1918 taxes for the amortization “of buildings, machinery, equipment, or other facilities, constructed, ereeted, installed, or acquired, on or after April 6, 1917, for the production of articles contributing to the prosecution of the present war.” Section 234(a)(8) of the Revenue Act of 1918 (40 Stat. 1078). The second phase of the claim alleges an unlawful assessment and collection of an amount whieh properly should have been allowed plaintiff as a credit for depreciation upon its 1918 taxes. A third branch of the claim sets out a wrongful determination of plaintiff’s excess-profits tax rate under special assessment (sections 327 and 328, Revenue Act of 1918) at 54.54 per cent, instead of 45 per cent., as claimed by the plaintiff, and a following illegal collection by the defendant. A fourth phase of the claim asserts that the Commissioner wrongfully assessed against plaintiff the sum of $574,372.-90 as additional income and profits taxes for the year 1917, and, in the computation of plaintiff’s taxes for 1920, improperly deducted such sum from the plaintiff’s invested capital, thus making it appear that plaintiff’s invested capital for 1920 was less in proportion to its income than was actually the ease; and this wrongful deduction in the assessment was followed by the defendant’s illegal collection of the increase in tax thus improperly created.

"We shall discuss each of these four contentions of plaintiff at greater length, but before doing so will notice another claim whieh relates to the entire amounts of 1918 and 1920 taxes for whieh suit has been brought. Such amounts were assessed on November 1,1927, and paid under protest on November 15,1927, after rejection of refund claims. The plaintiff’s returns for 1918 and 1920 were filed on June 16, 1919, and May 31, 1921, respectively, considerably more than five years before the assessment and collection of the amounts in question, and plaintiff has based upon this fact its contention that the collection was illegal because the statutory period therefor had expired.

Section 250(d) of the Revenue Act of 1921 (42 Stat. 265) required a determination and assessment of the 1918 and 1920 taxes within five years after the return; and section 1106(a) of the Revenue Act of 1926 (26 USCA § 1249 note) provided that “the bar of the statute of limitations against the United States in respect of any internal-revenue tax shall not only operate to bar the remedy but shall extinguish the liability.” However, section 250(d) of the Act of 1921 and subsequent Revenue Acts have provided that the limitation shall not apply where the Commissioner and the taxpayer have agreed in writing to a later determination, assessment, and collection of the tax, and defendant justifies the collections in the instant action under this provision. As appears from the findings of fact, while plaintiff’s petition for refund was pending, and prior to the expiration of the collection period, the Commissioner demanded the execution of a waiver by the plaintiff, whieh executed and returned the agreement required and in due time received an acknowledgment of its receipt by the Commissioner and information from him to the effect that it was in force and on file in his office. Prior to the expiration of the waiver period, other like agreements extending the limitation period were executed by plaintiff and filed with the Commissioner. The plaintiff denies the sufficiency of these waivers as a bar to the statute on the ground that they were not personally signed by the Commissioner, nor even by one specifically authorized to do so. The testimony does not disclose the actual signer of the waivers, but does make it plain that they were not signed by the Commissioner in person. However, it would seem that the circumstances require the application of the presumption in favor of the regularity and validity of the acts of a public official. Personal signature of all such waivers on the part of the Commissioner would be practically impossible and, we think, is Unnecessary; and due authorization of another to sign for him is to be inferred from the Commissioner’s demands for the waivers, his acknowledgment of their receipt, the filing of them in his office, and his reliance upon them in passing upon plaintiff’s application for refunds. The waivers offered in evidence by the defendant were sufficient, in our opinion, to toll the statute of limitations.

Amortization Claim.

In this phase of plaintiff’s claim, also, a question of limitation arises. One Griffith, an engineer in the Amortization Section of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, pursuant to a prior investigation, on October 23, 1921, filed a report wherein he recommended an allowance to plaintiff of $1,344,465.15' on account of amortization of its war facilities, of which amount $1,245,448.21 was to be deducted from 1918 gross income, and $99,016.94 from 1919 gross income. On December 1, 1921, this report was approved by the Chief [649]*649of Engineers of the Amortization Section and also by the Acting Chief of the Section. On December 2, 1921, át plaintiff’s request, a copy of Griffith’s report was mailed to plaintiff. In the letter of transmittal plaintiff was informed that such report was not final, and that no protest or request for modification would be considered until such time as the taxpayer should be notified of the result of the complete audit and examination. Subsequent to the transmittal of the letter of notification, a thirty-day period, taxpayer was informed, would be allowed for the presentation of objections to the allowance. Nothing was done in connection with plaintiff’s amortization allowance prior to October 1, 1924, when one Luce, an engineer in the Appraisal Section (formerly the Amortization Section), was assigned to re-examine the matter. On April 1, 1925, Mr. Luce examined plaintiff’s plant, and on November 4, 1925, filed á report wherein he recommended an amortization allowance to plaintiff of $468,812.30, of which amoupt $446,-283.67 was to be deducted from 1918 income, and $22,528.63 from 1919' income. On November 17, 1925, Mr. Luce filed a second report wherein he recommended an allowance for amortization of $387,224.40, of which amount $369,022.30 was to be deducted from 1918 income, and $18,202.10 from 1919 income. The first report was entitled “Report on Redetermination of Amortization Claim,” and the second, “Office Report on Second Redetermination.” The second report was approved by the Commissioner, who sent plaintiff the thirty-day letter, mentioned supra, wherein plaintiff was notified of the allowance approved.

The plaintiff contends that the Griffith recommendation, when approved by the Chief of Engineers and the Chief of the Amortization Section on December 1, 1921, was a determination of plaintiff’s amortization deduction, and that the Commissioner was prohibited from re-examining it at any time subsequent to March 3, 1924, by sections 234(a) (8) of the Revenue Acts of 1918 and 1921.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Diamond Alkali Co. v. Heiner, 39 F.2d 645, 8 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 10571, 1930 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1986, 1930 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) 9150, 8 A.F.T.R. (RIA) 10 (W.D. Pa. 1930).

39 F.2d 645 (Diamond Alkali Co. v. Heiner) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Cleveland Automobile Co. v. United States
70 F.2d 365 (Sixth Circuit, 1934)
Central Iron & Steel Co. v. United States
6 F. Supp. 115 (Court of Claims, 1934)
Diamond Alkali Co. v. Heiner
60 F.2d 505 (Third Circuit, 1932)