Foodservice & Lodging Institute, Inc. v. Regan

809 F.2d 842, 258 U.S. App. D.C. 1
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedJanuary 13, 1987
DocketNos. 84-5385, 84-5525
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 809 F.2d 842 (Foodservice & Lodging Institute, Inc. v. Regan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Foodservice & Lodging Institute, Inc. v. Regan, 809 F.2d 842, 258 U.S. App. D.C. 1 (D.C. Cir. 1987).

Opinion

Opinion for the Court PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM:

The appellant, the Foodservice and Lodging Institute, Inc. (the “Institute”), brought this action against the Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (“IRS”) on behalf of employers in the restaurant, food and beverage industry, requesting the District Court to declare invalid and enjoin the enforcement of four tax regulations dealing with tip income reporting and withholding requirements. The District Court upheld the regulations as “not arbitrary, irrational, unconstitutional, contrary to or in excess of statutory directive,”1 and granted summary judgment for the defendants. The appellant seeks review of the District Court’s decision on the merits, and the appellees cross-appeal on the question of subject matter jurisdiction.

We find that the District Court was barred from considering the challenge to at least two of these regulations by the Anti-Injunction Act, 26 U.S.C. § 7421(a) (1982) and the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201 (Supp. Ill 1985). We therefore vacate and remand that portion of the District Court’s decision with instructions to dismiss these challenges for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. On the two remaining claims, we affirm the District Court’s grant of summary judgment.

I. Background

Section 314 of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (“TEFRA”), Pub.L. No. 97-248, 96 Stat. 324, 603, instituted new tip income reporting requirements which are codified in section 6053(c) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”), 26 U.S.C. § 6053(c) (1982), and the IRS published proposed regulations concerning the new provisions. After the Institute and other interested parties filed comments raising certain objections to the proposed regulations, the IRS published the final regulations together with an explanation of its reasons. 48 Fed.Reg. 36,807 (1983).

The appellant raises one challenge to a regulation promulgated in 1969 that governs an employer’s liability for federal taxes due on an employee’s reported tips, and three challenges to regulations promulgated in 1982 under the TEFRA.

II. Regulations Concerning the Assessment or Collection of Federal Taxes

The first of the 1982 regulations challenged here requires that, in making the tip income allocation required by section 6053(c)(3) of the Code,2 an employer must [3]*3make allocations only among directly tipped employees, and not among indirectly tipped employees. 26 C.F.R. § 31.6053-3(f)(1) (1986). The second challenged regulation, promulgated under section 6053(c)(4) of the Code,3 specifies that, in determining whether a food or beverage establishment employs “more than 10 employees” so as to be subject to section 6053(c) and its implementing regulations,

[t]he employees of an employer shall include all employees at all food or beverage operations who, along with the employees of such employer, would be treated as employees of a single employer under section 52(a) or (b) (as in effect on September 3, 1982) and the regulations thereunder.

26 C.F.R. § 31.6053 — 3T(j)(9) (1986).4 The appellant’s third challenge is to 26 C.F.R. § 31.3402(k)-l(c) (1986), promulgated in 1969 pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 3402(k) (1982). This regulation provides that, in withholding federal income and social security taxes from employee wages, the employer must give priority to federal taxes on an employee’s reported tips over any other claims on the employee’s salary.

Because at least two of these regulations plainly concern the assessment or collection of federal taxes, the appellant’s challenges to them are barred by the Anti-Injunction Act and the Declaratory Judgment Act. The Anti-Injunction Act provides that “no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be maintained in any court by any person.” 26 U.S.C. § 7421(a) (1982). The Declaratory Judgment Act provides that “[i]n a case of actual controversy within its jurisdiction, except with respect to Federal taxes ... any court of the United States ... may declare the rights and other legal relations of any interested party seeking such declaration, whether or not further relief is or could be sought.” 28 U.S.C. k§ 2201(a) (Supp. Ill 1985). By their terms, these statutes clearly bar the appellant’s claims for injunctive and declaratory relief as to the allocation requirement and the ten-employee rule.

We reject the appellant’s contention, which the District Court accepted, that these two challenges fall within the narrow exception to the Anti-Injunction Act created in South Carolina v. Regan, 465 U.S. 367, 373, 104 S.Ct. 1107, 1111, 79 L.Ed.2d 372 (1984), which permits an action for injunctive relief against the IRS if the aggrieved party has no alternative remedy. With respect to both the allocation requirement and the ten-employee rule, employers [4]*4can refuse to comply, pay the statutory fine,5 and sue for a refund of the fine. Therefore, it is clear that alternative remedies are available. We therefore hold that the District Court was statutorily barred from hearing these two challenges, and we vacate the portion of the court’s decision upholding these regulations and remand to the District Court with instructions to dismiss the claims for lack of jurisdiction.

The issue concerning the regulation governing the withholding priority is less clear. The Government claims that, if the salary due an employee is insufficient to satisfy both the employer’s federal withholding obligation and any debts due the employer, the employer may pay the withholding tax under protest and sue for a refund to the extent the salary was used to pay withholding on tips rather than to satisfy other debts.6 The District Court held that no such refund suit would be cognizable under 26 U.S.C. § 6414 (1982) because the employer would not be contesting any ultimate liability for taxes.7 We are inclined to agree with the Government’s position on this point, but we need not decide the issue. Even if the District Court did have jurisdiction to consider the withholding priority regulation, we would still affirm the judgment of the trial court. On the record before ns, it is clear that the appellant has failed to demonstrate that the disputed regulation is either unreasonable or plainly inconsistent with the statute that it seeks to implement.

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Bluebook (online)
809 F.2d 842, 258 U.S. App. D.C. 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/foodservice-lodging-institute-inc-v-regan-cadc-1987.