Headline Publications, Inc. v. Commissioner

28 T.C. 1263, 1957 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 71
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedSeptember 30, 1957
DocketDocket No. 38126
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 28 T.C. 1263 (Headline Publications, Inc. v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Headline Publications, Inc. v. Commissioner, 28 T.C. 1263, 1957 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 71 (tax 1957).

Opinion

OPINION.

Kern, Judge:

The sole issue for our decision is whether or not, under the circumstances here present, the statute of limitations bars the allowance of petitioner’s claim to an unused excess profits credit carryover and carryback from the fiscal years 1944 and 1946, respectively, to the fiscal year 1945.

There is no doubt that the amended claim was filed after the statute of limitations had run and thus cannot possibly be considered independently as a timely claim for the benefit of a constructive unused excess profits credit carryover and carryback from the fiscal years 1944 and 1946. Petitioner alleges, however, that its original application inferentially but effectively included a claim for its benefit of an excess profits credit carryover and carryback, since the figure used in the original application as to the amount of refund claimed could not have been arrived at without the inclusion in its computation of claims for a carryover and carryback. Thus, petitioner argues that the amended claim merely sets forth in specific words what was inherent in the original application. Packer Publishing Co., 17 T. C. 882, remanded on other issues 211 F. 2d 612.

In the alternative, petitioner argues that the amended claim may be properly considered since it involved no new research on the part of the respondent, and the facts necessary to dispose of the amended claim must, of necessity, have been considered in conjunction with the original application for a refund. In support of its position, petitioner cites Bemis Bros. Bag Co. v. United States, 289 U. S. 28; United States v. Memphis Cotton Oil Co., 288 U. S. 62; Pink v. United States, 105 F. 2d 188, and the cases decided thereunder. We are unable to agree with petitioner on either theory.

The statutory law, as found in sections 322 (b) (1) and (6), and 722 (d), may be summarized as follows: Section 322 (b) (1) provides that a claim for a credit or refund must be filed within 3 years from the time the return was filed or within 2 years from the time the tax was paid, whichever is the longer period; section 322 (b) (6) provides, in the case of an unused excess profits credit carryback, a special period or limitation which “ends with the expiration of the fifteenth day of the thirty-ninth month following the end of the taxable year of * * * the unused excess profits credit which results in such carryback * * section 722 (d) denies a taxpayer the benefits of section 722, unless within the period of time described by section 322 it makes application for such benefits. The pertinent provisions of Regulations 112, as amended, are set forth in the margin.2

Petitioner’s original application, filed on Form 991, contained very little information. The only figures given were the requested refund of $24,948.91, and a requested constructive average base period net income (cabent) for the fiscal year 1945 of $22,540. The only explanation of the claim given referred to the “details of reconstruction of base period earnings included in data filed with claim for relief from excess profits tax for the fiscal year ended November 30, 1943.” Petitioner does not argue that the claim for the fiscal year 1943 included as a ground for relief an unused excess profits credit carry-back from the fiscal year 1944. Eather, it argues that the amount of relief claimed for 1945 in the original application could only have been arrived at by including hi its computation a consideration of an excess profits credit carryover from 1944 and of a carryback from 1946, each in a considerable amount, and that such a computation was made by petitioner’s counsel.

We assume, arguendo, the correctness of the factual basis for this argument, but we point out that such a computation was not included in the claim for relief and that the fact of such a computation was never in any way communicated to respondent until 1951. Indeed, as late as 1950 it appears to have been forgotten or considered inconsequential by petitioner’s counsel himself since, as late as March 11, 1950, be was stating in a formal amendment of petitioner’s claim that “taxpayer originally claimed a reconstructed excess profits credit in an amount sufficient to eliminate the entire excess profits tax for the fiscal year ended November 30,1945 without the benefit of unused excess profits credit carry-over and carry-back.” Even assuming the correctness of the facts urged by petitioner, the original application still does not meet the requirements of respondent’s regulations. Regulations 112 clearly require that a refund claim for excess profits taxes paid, based on an unused excess profits credit determined on the basis of a cabpni, must be specifically claimed by the taxpayer. The validity and propriety of these regulations have been repeatedly recognized by this Court. May Seed & Nursery Co., 24 T. C. 1131, affd. 242 F. 2d 151; St. Louis Amusement Co., 22 T. C. 522; Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Co., 20 T. C. 705; Nielsen Lithographing Co., 19 T. C. 605; Lockhart Creamery, 17 T. C. 1123. It is obvious that merely asking for a larger refund than petitioner would have been entitled to if its cabpni was determined to be in the amount prayed for is not “a complete statement of the facts upon which [the carryover or carryback claim] is based and which existed with respect to the taxable year for which the unused excess profits credit so computed is claimed to have arisen * * No claim for relief under section 722 was ever filed for the fiscal years 1944 and 1946. After a careful scrutiny of the record we can only conclude that petitioner’s original application for relief failed to satisfy the requirements set forth in Regulations 112. Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Co., supra.

Petitioner relies heavily on Packer Publishing Co., supra, and Wilmington Gasoline Oorporation, 27 T. C. 500. In the Packer Publishing case, however, we found as a fact that (p. 892)—

[Petitioner’s] application for relief for 1944 contained, among other matters, a computation of tax which took account of an unused excess profits credit carryover from 1942 in an amount equal to the unused excess profits credit carryover from 1942 shown in its application for relief for 1943. The application for relief for 1944 stated that it incorporated by reference all matters contained in relief applications for other years, and stated that it relied for support of the claim upon the statement of facts attached to the application for relief for 1943. * * *

In the instant case, there was no incorporation by reference of any prior claim of, or specific reference to, a carryover or carryback, nor was the computation of tax referred to by petitioner contained in the application for relief for 1945.

Petitioner’s reliance on Wilmington Gasoline Corporation, supra, is misplaced. There is no doubt that respondent can waive the specificity required in his regulations, and that a consideration of the merits of the claim may act as such waiver. United States v. Andrews, 302 U. S. 517; United States v. Garbutt Oil Co., 302 U. S. 528. See also United States v.

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Bluebook (online)
28 T.C. 1263, 1957 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 71, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/headline-publications-inc-v-commissioner-tax-1957.