Hegar v. Autohaus LP

514 S.W.3d 897, 2017 WL 744249, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 1575
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 24, 2017
DocketNO. 03-15-00427-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 514 S.W.3d 897 (Hegar v. Autohaus LP) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hegar v. Autohaus LP, 514 S.W.3d 897, 2017 WL 744249, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 1575 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

Melissa Goodwin, Justice

Glenn Hegar, Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas, and Ken Paxton, Attorney General of the State of Texas,1 appeal from the final judgment in favor of Autohaus LP, LLP in this franchise tax protest suit, see Tex. Tax Code § 112.052, and suit for declaratory relief under the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act (UDJA), see Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 37.001-.011. In its judgment, the trial court found that Autohaus was entitled to a refund of the $14,227.09 in franchise tax that it paid under protest; made declarations in favor of Autohaus; and awarded court costs, interest, and attorney’s fees to Autohaus. In four issues, the Comptroller challenges the trial court’s judgment in favor of Autohaus with respect to its tax protest claims and the trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction to consider Autohaus’s claims brought under the UDJA, including the award of attorney’s fees. For the following reasons, we vacate the trial court’s judgment in part and reverse and render in part.

BACKGROUND

Section 171.1012 of the Tax Code and Comptroller Rule 3.588

We begin by providing a brief overview of section 171.1012 of the Tax Code and the Comptroller’s corresponding rule to give context to the parties’ arguments. Section 171.1012, addressing the determination of cost of goods sold for purposes of calculating Texas franchise tax, defines “goods” to mean “real or tangible personal property sold in the ordinary course of business of a taxable entity,” and states that “tangible personal property” does not include services. Tex. Tax Code § 171.1012(a)(1), (3)(B)(ii). Cost of goods sold “includes all direct costs of acquiring or producing the goods,” id. § 171.1012(c), and “production” includes “construction, installation, manufacture, development, mining, extraction, improvement, creation, raising, or growth,” id. § 171.1012(a)(2). The “direct costs of acquiring or producing the goods” include, among other costs, “labor costs,” “cost of materials that are an integral part of specific property produced,” and “cost of materials that are consumed in the ordinary course of performing production activities.” Id. § 171.1012(c)(l)-(3). “A taxable entity may make a subtraction under this section in relation to the cost of goods sold only if that entity owns the good.” Id. § 171.1012®.

Comptroller Rule 3.588 was adopted in response to the enactment of section 171.1012. See 34 Tex. Admin. Code § 3.588(b)(7) (Comptroller of Public Accounts, Margin: Cost of Goods Sold); Act of May 2, 2006, 79th Leg., 3d C.S., ch. 1, § 5, 2006 Tex. Gen. Laws 1, 13-16 (effective Jan. 1, 2008) (current version at Tex. Tax Code § 171.1012); see also Tex. Tax Code § 111.002(a) (authorizing comptroller to adopt rules “for the enforcement of the provisions of this title and the collection of taxes and other revenues under this ti-[900]*900tie”).2 Relevant to this appeal, subsection (b)(7) of Comptroller Rule 3.588 defines “production” to mean “[c]onstruction, manufacture, installation occurring during the manufacturing or construction process, development, mining, extraction, improvement, creation, raising, or growth.” 34 Tex. Admin. Code § 3.588(b)(7). And subsection (c)(7) of the rule, addressing “[m]ixed transactions,” states: “If a transaction contains elements of both a sale of tangible personal property and a service, a taxable entity may only subtract as cost of goods sold the costs otherwise allowed by this section in relation to the tangible personal property sold.” Id. § 3.588(c)(7). With this context, we turn to the parties’ dispute.

The Controversy

Autohaus is an automotive dealership. For tax report year 2009, Autohaus determined its taxable margin for purposes of calculating its Texas franchise tax by subtracting its cost of goods sold from its total revenues. See Tex. Tax Code §§ 171.101(a)(l)(B)(ii)(a)(l) (allowing taxable entity to subtract cost of goods sold from total revenues to determine taxable margin for franchise tax calculation), .1012; see generally Combs v. Newpark Res., Inc., 422 S.W.3d 46, 47-48 (Tex. App.— Austin 2013, no pet.) (describing structure and formula for calculating franchise tax, which is “tax on the value and privilege of doing business in Texas” (citing In re Nestle USA Inc., 387 S.W.3d 610, 612 (Tex. 2012) (orig. proceeding))). At issue here, Autohaus included labor costs that were incurred as part of repair work to install automotive parts on customer-owned vehicles (“repair labor costs”) in its cost-of-goods-sold determination. After an audit, the Comptroller disallowed the repair labor costs, resulting in Autohaus owing additional franchise taxes. Asserting that the repair labor costs were properly included in its cost-of-goods-sold determination, Au-tohaus paid the additional franchise taxes under protest and brought suit, seeking a refund of the amount of franchise tax that it had paid, declaratory relief, interest, court costs, and attorney’s fees. See Tex. Tax Code § 112.052; Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 37.009 (authorizing trial court to award attorney’s fees “as are equitable and just”).

The parties filed competing motions for summary judgment. In its motion, Auto-haus argued that it was entitled to include all of its labor costs associated with repair costs involved in the “installation” of automotive parts as cost of goods sold based on the “clear and unambiguous language” of section 171.1012 of the Tax Code, see Tex. Tax Code § 171.1012, and the invalidity and unconstitutionality of Comptroller Rule 3.588(b)(7), see 34 Tex. Admin. Code § 3.588(b)(7). Autohaus argued that Comptroller Rule 3.588(b)(7) was invalid as it applied to the statutory term “production” because it attempted to alter the unambiguous statute by imposing additional restrictions. Autohaus also argued that the Comptroller’s assessment of the protested amount of franchise tax violated the Equal and Uniform Taxation Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Texas Constitution, see Tex. Const, art. I, § 3; art. VIII, § 1(a); that the assessment violated the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution, see U.S. Const. Amend. XIV, § 1; and that it was entitled to declaratory relief, attorney’s fees, and interest. Autohaus' supported its motion with evidence, including an affidavit from its controller, a copy of its letter conveying payment under protest, and the Comptroller’s notification of the audit results.

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Bluebook (online)
514 S.W.3d 897, 2017 WL 744249, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 1575, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hegar-v-autohaus-lp-texapp-2017.