Dugger v. State ex rel. Oklahoma Tax Commission

1992 OK 105, 834 P.2d 964, 63 O.B.A.J. 2135, 1992 Okla. LEXIS 149
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 14, 1992
DocketNo. 74586
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 1992 OK 105 (Dugger v. State ex rel. Oklahoma Tax Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dugger v. State ex rel. Oklahoma Tax Commission, 1992 OK 105, 834 P.2d 964, 63 O.B.A.J. 2135, 1992 Okla. LEXIS 149 (Okla. 1992).

Opinions

ALMA WILSON, Justice:

The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether there is substantial evidence to support the findings and conclusions of the Oklahoma Tax Commission. We hold that the evidence is insufficient to support the finding by the Oklahoma Tax Commission that the federal adjusted incomes for tax years 1984, 1985 and 1986 were not recomputed in determining the tax reduction claimed for the 1987 tax year.

During 1984, 1985 and 1986, Athel W. Dugger received $426,567.00 from the sale of gas produced in this state. For tax years 1984, 1985 and 1986, Athel W. and Anna Dugger, appellants (taxpayers), reported the mineral interest proceeds for income tax purposes. Mobil Oil Corporation, an interest owner in the gas well, sued Dugger in federal district court to recover the gas proceeds paid to Dugger, on the grounds that the Dugger took a greater portion of the gas than he was entitled to receive. Pursuant to a settlement agree-mént, Dugger agreed that, as of December 31, 1986, he had received production proceeds in the amount of $426,567.00 and that he should pay $365,204.29 of the production receipts to Mobil Oil Corporation for distribution to the other interests owners. In 1987, Dugger paid to Mobil the judicially approved amount of overpayment. Dug-ger reported this repayment of $365,204.29 to the Internal Revenue Service in his 1987 personal income tax return, filed jointly with his spouse. In 1988, taxpayers filed amended state income tax reports for tax years 1984, 1985 and 1986 and claimed refunds for each year based upon the 1987 repayment to Mobil.

The Income Tax Division of the Oklahoma Tax Commission denied the refunds claimed on the amended state reports for the specified reason that the taxpayers failed to file amended federal returns for the involved tax years. Taxpayers protested the denial of refunds pursuant to 68 O.S.1981, § 207 and 68 O.S.Supp.1988, § 2373. On January 29, 1989, an adjudicatory proceeding was had before a hearing officer of the Oklahoma Tax Commission. On September 28, 1989, the hearing officer submitted written findings and conclusions to the Oklahoma Tax Commission and recommended that the taxpayer protest and claim for refund be denied. On November 14, 1989, the Oklahoma Tax Commission, appellee (OTC), issued Order No. 89-11-14-011, denying taxpayers’ request for a hear[966]*966ing before the OTC en banc and adopting the Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations of the hearing officer. The Court of Appeals reversed Order No. 89 — 11—14— Oil and remanded the cause with directions to the OTC to refund the state income tax paid on the mineral proceeds which taxpayers repaid in 1987. Certiorari was previously granted to determine whether the findings and conclusions entered by the Oklahoma Tax Commission in Order No. 89-11-14-011 are supported by substantial evidence.

The issue presented to the OTC was whether taxpayers’ federal “claim of right” constituted an adjustment by the federal government to the taxpayers’ adjusted gross income for the involved tax years.1 Our income tax statutes “piggy-back” the calculation of state personal income tax upon the federal tax calculation,2 hence, taxpayers’ finally ascertained federal adjusted gross income for tax years 1984, 1985 and 1986 is a critical fact to the issue presented before the OTC. Generally, federal deductions and exclusions allowed in calculating federal adjusted gross income are incorporated into our income tax law through the definitions of Oklahoma adjusted gross income and Oklahoma taxable income, while the federal tax rates, tax exemptions and tax credits are not included as part of our income tax law.3 Thus, where a taxpayer reduces federal adjusted gross income by a loss suffered in any particular tax year, such as the repayment herein, Oklahoma recognizes the deduction for that same tax year. If the deduction generates a net operating loss which is allowed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to be carried back as an adjustment to a prior year, then Oklahoma recognizes the federal adjustment for that same tax year.

The hearing officer and the OTC found that the federal income tax returns for the prior tax years were not reopened and therefore concluded there was no recompu-tation of taxpayers federal adjusted gross income for those prior tax years upon the reporting of the 1987 repayment as authorized by 26 U.S.C. § 1341 (1976).4 Our research indicates that the federal “claim of right” statute recognizes several methods of calculating the amount of overpayment of taxes, which may include finally ascertaining the amount subject to taxation by the United States in a prior year.

The federal “claim of right” statute, 26 U.S.C. § 1341 (1976), allows a taxpayer to recover overpayments of federal income taxes where previously reported income must be repaid. Under subsection (a), General rule., the amount of the overpayment of taxes may be calculated through an adjustment to arrive at taxable income for the tax year the money was repaid (repayment year) or through a credit adjustment to arrive at tax liability for the repayment year. The taxpayer must elect to reduce the adjusted gross income for the repayment tax year, § 1341(a)(4), or to reduce the tax liability for the repayment tax year, § 1341(a)(5). Where the taxpayer elects to calculate the overpayment prior to arriving at taxable income, subsection (b), Special rules., permits the taxpayer to further elect to adjust prior year income through a [967]*967carry-back deduction. It specifically provides that, where the deduction in (a)(4) results in a net operating loss for the repayment year, it may be carried back under § 172; and that, where the exclusion in (a)(5)(B) results in a net operating loss or capital loss for the prior tax years, for purposes of calculating the decrease in tax for the prior years, it may be carried back or carried over.

Federal jurisprudence recognizes the right of a taxpayer to elect the method of calculating the amount of overpayment of taxes pursuant to § 1341.5 In United States v. Skelly Oil Company, the United States Supreme Court concluded that § 1341 does not, as a matter of law, adjust prior year income, but that it provides methods of tax calculation, not originally embodied in the “claim of right” doctrine, to avoid inequitable annual accounting limitations. Quoting Justice Brandéis in North American Oil Consolidated v. Burnet, 286 U.S. 417, 424, 52 S.Ct. 613, 615, 76 L.Ed. 1197, 1200, 1201 (1932), the United States Supreme Court explained the “claim of right” doctrine and § 1341:

“If a taxpayer receives earnings under a claim of right and without restriction as to its disposition, he has received income which he is required to return, even though it may still be claimed that he is not entitled to retain the money, and even though he may still be adjudged liable to restore its equivalent.” Should it later appear that the taxpayer was not entitled to keep the money, Mr. Justice Brandéis explained, he would be entitled to a deduction in the year of repayment; the taxes due for the year of receipt would not be affected. ...

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Bluebook (online)
1992 OK 105, 834 P.2d 964, 63 O.B.A.J. 2135, 1992 Okla. LEXIS 149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dugger-v-state-ex-rel-oklahoma-tax-commission-okla-1992.