E. E. Atkinson & Co. v. Willcuts

52 F.2d 1, 10 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 377, 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 3658, 10 A.F.T.R. (RIA) 377
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedAugust 27, 1931
DocketNo. 9121
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 52 F.2d 1 (E. E. Atkinson & Co. v. Willcuts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
E. E. Atkinson & Co. v. Willcuts, 52 F.2d 1, 10 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 377, 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 3658, 10 A.F.T.R. (RIA) 377 (8th Cir. 1931).

Opinion

DEWEY, District Judge.

This was a suit for recovery on a deficiency assessment and payment of income and profits taxes alleged to have been illegally exacted from appellant for the taxing years ending January 31, 1919, and January 31, 1920. On March 26, 1919, E. E. Atkinson & Co., a corporation, made to the collector of internal revenue of the district of Minnesota a tentative return and on July 19, 1919, a completed return for the income and profits taxes of the corporation for the period ending January 31, 1919. There was also a tax return filed with said collector of internal revenue by the corporation for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1920, but the record does not disclose the date when this return was made or filed.

The Commissioner of Internal Revenue asserted deficiencies for these years in a registered letter under section 274 of the Revenue Act of 1924 (26 USCA § 1048 note et seq.), dated February 10,1926, as follows:

Fiscal year ended Deficiency
January 31, 1919...............$21,505.70
January 31, 1920............... 1,420.01
Total.............$22,925.71

[2]*2The deficiencies were assessed against the plaintiff on April 26, 1926, and were collected and paid as follows:

Fiscal year ended January 31,1919.
Date of Collection or Credit Amount
Collection — February 24, 1926,...$ 8,314.54
Credit — April 27, 1926,......... 10,414.07
Collection — September 3, 1926,... 2,992.15
Total tax and interest.....$21,720.76
Fiscal year ended January 31,1920. Collection — February 24, 1926,.. .$1,434.21.

On December 10, 1928, the corporation filed a claim for a refund of the assessment and payment covering the income and profits taxes paid for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1919, and this claim for refund was denied by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue about February 8, 1929. A similar claim was filed for the refund of the deficiency assessment and payment for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1920, on or about February 27, 1929', and this claim for refund was denied by the Commissioner on or about May 6, 1929. These claims for refund were based on the ground that the statute of limitations against the assessment and the collection of the amount claimed as refundable had expired when it was assessed and collected, and on the further ground that such amounts were assessed during a period within which an assessment was prohibited by law.

On May 20, 1924, the taxpayer and Commissioner signed an income and profits tax waiver extending the period for the determination of the assessment and collection of the income and excess profits, or war profits taxes, for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1919, to be effective from May 20, 1924, for a period of one year, after the expiration of the statutory period of limitations. On January 29, 1925, a similar income and profits tax waiver was executed by the taxpayer and Commissioner extending the statutory period of limitations for an additional year.

A judgment was entered against the appellant, plaintiff below, and in favor of the government, after an order had been made overruling the demurrer of the plaintiff to the answer of the appellee, the facts appearing in the pleadings.

There are two questions raised on appeal: First, whether the assessment which was made April 26, 1926, was barred by the statute of limitations, and, second, whether the assessment was made within a period which was prohibited by the Revenue Act of 1926. We will discuss these questions raised in their order.

The statute of limitations governing the question is found in the 1921 Revenue Act, section 250 (d), 42 Stat. 264, and reads, so far as here material, as follows: “ * * * The amount of any such taxes due under any return made under this Act for prior taxable years or under prior income, excess-profits, or war-profits tax Acts, or under section 38 of the Act entitled ‘An Act to provide revenue, equalize duties, and encourage the industries of the United States, and for other purposes,’ approved August 5, 1909, shall be determined and assessed within five years after the return was filed, unless both the Commissioner and the taxpayer consent in writing to a later determination, assessment, and collection of the tax; and no suit or proceeding for the collection of any such taxes due under this Act or under prior income, excess-profits, or wax-profits ' tax Acts, or of any taxes due under section 38 of such Act of August 5, 1909, shall be begun, after the expiration of five years after the date when such return was filed, but this shall not affect suits or proceedings begun at the time of the passage of this Act. * * * ”

The appellant contends that this statute of limitations commences to run from the date of the filing of the tentative return, which in this case was March 26, 1919, and that said period of limitations, as provided by the statute, of five years, together with the two periods of extensions by the waivers of one year each, would extend the time within ’which an assessment could be made only to March 26, 1926, and as the assessment was made April 26, 1926, it was beyond the period of the statute as extended by the waivers. The statute, however, commences to run from the date of the completed return, which in this ease was July 19, 1919. This is determined by the ease of Florsheim Bros. Co. v. United States, 280 U. S. 453, 50 S. Ct. 215, 74 L. Ed. 542. And the taxpayer relies upon this theory as to assessments which were made for both the fiscal years ending January 31, 1919, and January 31, 1920. The Supreme Court has definitely determined contrary to appellant’s contention in this regard.

The government relies upon the two waivers above referred to. The one dated May 20, 1924, extends the period for one year after the expiration of the statutory period of limitations; the other waiver dated Jan[3]*3uary 29,1925, extends the period for one year after the expiration of the statutory period of limitations, or the statutory period of limitations as extended by section 277 (b) of the Revenue Act of 1924 (26 USCA § 1057 note) or by any waivers already on file. The waivers therefore extended the period for assessment and collection two years beyond that allowed by the statute which would carry it beyond April 26, 1926, the date when the assessment complained of was made. The appellant questions the validity of the waivers in that there is no allegation in the pleadings, from which the facts were considered as admitted, that the waivers were signed before the expiration of the statute of limitations. However, the full provisions of the waivers are set out and they purport to be signed as of the date thereof.

As to the other contention of the appellant, the relevant provisions of the statute are section 274 (a) and section 283 (c), both of the Revenue Act of 1926 (26 USCA §§ 1048, 1064 (c), reading, so far as here material, as follows:

“Sec. 274 (a). If in the ease of any taxpayer, the commissioner determines that there is a deficiency in respect of the tax imposed by this title, the commissioner is authorized to send notice of such deficiency to the taxpayer by registered mail.

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Bluebook (online)
52 F.2d 1, 10 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 377, 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 3658, 10 A.F.T.R. (RIA) 377, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/e-e-atkinson-co-v-willcuts-ca8-1931.