Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. United States

14 Cl. Ct. 23, 61 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 321, 1987 U.S. Claims LEXIS 230, 1987 WL 22884
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedDecember 8, 1987
DocketNo. 510-85T
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 14 Cl. Ct. 23 (Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. United States, 14 Cl. Ct. 23, 61 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 321, 1987 U.S. Claims LEXIS 230, 1987 WL 22884 (cc 1987).

Opinion

ORDER

MOODY R. TIDWELL, III, Judge:

This tax refund case came before the court for disposition on plaintiff's motion for summary judgment to determine whether foreign tax law concepts are controlling when computing indirect tax credits under section 902 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S.C § 902 (1954), and in the alternative, whether the payments received by its foreign subsidiary from the British government during 1975 and 1976 were properly classified and treated as refunds for years 1970 and 1971 under section 905 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S.C. § 905 (1954). Defendant brought a cross-motion for summary judgment claiming that United States tax law concepts are controlling for purposes of section 902 and that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue acted properly under section 905 when he directed that the section 902 indirect tax credits claimed by plaintiff on its 1970 and 1971 United States income tax returns be recomputed upon receipt of tax refunds in 1975 and 1976 by the foreign subsidiary for the years 1970 and 1971.

FACTS

In 1970 and 1971, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Ltd. (Goodyear England), a Great Britain corporation and plaintiff’s wholly owned subsidiary, operated at a profit and paid dividends to plaintiff.1 During this time, Goodyear England was engaged in business in Great Britain and, to a small extent, in the Republic of Ireland. It conducted no business in the United States and, consequently, had no income subject directly to United States income taxes. Plaintiff, therefore, claimed foreign tax credits in 1970 and 1971 pursuant to section 902(a)(1) for British taxes deemed paid on the dividends by Goodyear England.2

In 1972, Goodyear England operated at a loss. This loss, recognized under both United States and British tax law, was carried back to 1971 and applied to reduce Goodyear England’s 1971 accumulated profits. Because the amount of the 1972 loss was known prior to the time Goodyear England paid its 1971 taxes, the dividend paid to plaintiff in 1971 was considered to have been paid out of Goodyear England’s accumulated profits as reduced by both its 1972 loss and the 1971 taxes paid thereon.

[25]*25In 1973, Goodyear England incurred another net operating loss. This loss, however, was attributed to two British tax deductions not allowable under United States tax law. The first permitted accelerated depreciation write-offs and the second permitted inventory reductions by the increase in inventory value less ten percent of trading profit for the year. Since 1972 was also a loss year, Goodyear England carried back its 1973 net operating loss in accordance with British tax law to both 1971, where it more than eliminated all accumulated profits, and 1970, where it substantially reduced accumulated profits. The British government subsequently made refund payments to Goodyear England during 1975 and 1976 amounting to £ 650,000 for the adjustment to its 1971 accumulated profits and £ 671,599 for the adjustment to its 1970 accumulated profits.

In 1980, as a consequence of the payments to Goodyear England by the British Government in 1975 and 1976, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, asserting authority under section 905, recomputed the section 902(a)(1) tax credits claimed by plaintiff on its 1970 and 1971 United States income tax returns. The Commissioner converted Goodyear England’s 1973 loss under British tax law to a profit of £ 1,137,-152 in accordance with United States tax law which did not allow the accelerated depreciation or special inventory deductions permitted by Great Britain. On November 21, 1980, the Commissioner adjusted the foreign tax credits claimed by plaintiff in 1970 and 1971 and timely assessed the following deficiencies, plus interest thereon, owed by plaintiff as a result of these new computations:

year tax interest total
1970 $323,654 $132,611.66 $456,265.66
1971 237,616 97,359.06 334,975.06
791,240.72

Plaintiff subsequently paid the tax deficiencies to the Internal Revenue Service Center, Cincinnati, Ohio on December 3, 1980.

In November 1982, plaintiff filed timely refund claims with the IRS for the assessed deficiencies plus interest thereon. The Regional Commissioner of Internal Revenue issued a notice of disallowance of the refund claims on September 30, 1983. Plaintiff subsequently filed its Complaint in this court to recover $791,240.72 paid to IRS, plus interest thereon, as a result of the adjustments to its 1970 and 1971 United States income tax returns.

DISCUSSION

Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. RUSCC 56(c). In evaluating a motion for summary judgment, any doubt must be resolved in favor of the nonmoving party. Housing Corp. v. United States, 199 Ct.Cl. 705, 710, 468 F.2d 922, 924 (1972); Campbell v. United States, 2 Cl.Ct. 247, 249 (1983). In addition, the “inferences to be drawn from the ... facts ... must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion” for summary judgment. Ad-ickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1609, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970) (quoting United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 994, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962)); Ball v. United States, 1 Cl.Ct. 180, 183 (1982). The court agrees with the parties that there are no genuine issues of material fact in dispute and that this case is properly before the court for disposition on cross-motions for summary judgment.

I. Application of Sections 901 and 902

Section 901(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S.C. § 901(a) (1954)3, in accordance with section 901(b)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S.C. [26]*26§ 901(b)(1) (1954)4, permits domestic taxpayers to elect to receive a credit, within prescribed limits, for any foreign income tax paid, or deemed to have been paid, during the taxable year. Section 902(a)(1) prescribes the terms under which the deemed paid foreign tax credit is allowed and explains the manner in which this credit is to be computed. The statute provides in pertinent part:

[a] domestic corporation which owns at least 10 percent of the voting stock of a foreign corporation from which it receives dividends in any taxable year shall—
(1) to the extent such dividends are paid by such foreign corporation out of accumulated profits (as defined in subsection (c)(1)(A)) of a year for which such foreign corporation is not a less developed country corporation, be deemed to have paid the same proportion of any income, war profits, or excess profits taxes paid or deemed to be paid by such foreign corporation to any foreign country ... on or with respect to such accumulated profits ...

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14 Cl. Ct. 23, 61 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 321, 1987 U.S. Claims LEXIS 230, 1987 WL 22884, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goodyear-tire-rubber-co-v-united-states-cc-1987.