In Re Moore

307 B.R. 394, 2004 Bankr. LEXIS 544, 93 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1875, 2004 WL 614549
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 17, 2004
Docket19-35161
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 307 B.R. 394 (In Re Moore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Moore, 307 B.R. 394, 2004 Bankr. LEXIS 544, 93 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1875, 2004 WL 614549 (N.Y. 2004).

Opinion

CECELIA MORRIS, Bankruptcy Judge.

Debtor Leonard Moore (the “Debtor”) filed an Objection to the Internal Revenue Services’ Amended Proof of Claim for the payment of penalties and interest on the Debtor’s 1995 tax obligation, arguing that the tax debt was satisfied during the pen-dency of a prior Chapter 13 filing. The Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) responds that Debtor’s previous filing was dismissed, and as no discharge was granted to Debtor, 11 U.S.C. § 349(b)(3) permits the IRS to seek interest and penalties that accrued during the period that Debtor was under the protection of Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code even if the principal amount of the tax was repaid during the prior bankruptcy case. For the reasons set forth below, the Court holds that Debt- or is required to pay interest and penalties on a satisfied tax obligation when debtor did not receive a discharge in his previous Chapter 13 filing.

JURISDICTION

This Court has subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334(a), 28 U.S.C. § 157(a) and the Standing Order of Reference signed by Acting Chief Judge Robert J. Ward dated July 10, 1984. Allowance or disallowance of claims against *396 the bankruptcy estate are “core proceedings” under 28 U.S.C. § 157(c)(2)(B).

BACKGROUND FACTS

The Debtor filed this bankruptcy case under Chapter 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code on April 23, 2003. This is Debtor’s third bankruptcy filing. Debt- or filed his first Chapter 13 case on August 18,1998, which was dismissed on February 19, 1999 prior to confirmation of a Chapter 13 plan. Debtor filed a second petition under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code on March 1, 1999. The second Chapter 13 filing was dismissed, without Debtor’s having been granted a discharge, on January 8, 2003, a significant period of time after plan confirmation. Debtor had completed almost 3 years of plan payments at the time of the dismissal of his second Chapter 13 filing, during which time the priority unsecured claims underlying the IRS’ claim were paid in full. The Trustee’s final report indicates that the IRS was paid a total of $39,850.02 during Debtor’s second Chapter 13 case pursuant to the confirmed plan. 1

The IRS filed an amended proof of claim in Debtor’s current bankruptcy case for $25,159.84, representing amounts owed by the Debtor, according to the IRS, for unpaid interest and penalties due on the tax obligation satisfied in Debtor’s second Chapter 13 filing. Specifically, the IRS alleges that “[d]uring the pendency of Debt- or’s 1999 Bankruptcy, Debtor made payments and eventually satisfied his principal tax obligation for the tax year 1995. Additional penalties and interest, however, continued to accrue during this period for as long as he had an unpaid tax balance that was not discharged ...” 2

Debtor has objected to the amended IRS proof of claim as having been paid in full in the previous bankruptcy filing. Debtor argues that interest could not have accrued during the pendency of the previous bankruptcy because such accrual would be a violation of the stay, 3 and as the debt to the IRS was paid in full prior to the dismissal of his second Chapter 13 case, no interest should have accrued during the pendency of the prior bankruptcy proceeding. See 11 U.S.C. § 502(b)(2). The IRS counters that because Debtor did not receive a discharge in his second Chapter 13 filing, the IRS is entitled to calculate interest and penalties that accrued during the previous bankruptcy filings. As the parties agree that the principal owed on the tax obligation was fully paid in the Debtor’s second bankruptcy filing, the only question to be resolved is one of law, not fact. The issue that the Court must determine is whether the IRS may collect penalties and interest that accrued during a prior bankruptcy filing, which did not result in a discharge, against a Debtor who has fully satisfied the underlying tax obligations in that previous bankruptcy filing.

DISCUSSION

Allowance of Unmatured Interest under 11 U.S.C. § 502(b)(2)

11 U.S.C. § 502(b)(2) prohibits the IRS from making a claim for unmatured interest. “The court, after notice and a hearing, shall determine the amount of *397 such claim in lawful currency of the United States as of the date of the filing of the petition, and shall allow such claim in such amount, except to the extent that ... (2) such claim is for unmatured interest.” The Bankruptcy Code does not provide a definition for what constitutes “unmatured interest” but case law has defined it as interest that is not yet due and payable at the time the debtor filed its bankruptcy petition, see Thrifty Oil Co. v. Bank of America National Trust & Savings Assoc. (In re Thrifty Oil Co.), 249 B.R. 537, 543 (S.D.Ca.2000); or that has not been “earned” as of the filing of the bankruptcy petition, see In re United States Lines, Inc., 199 B.R. 476, 481 (Bankr.S.D.N.Y.1996). The rationale for denying post-petition interest as a claim against a bankruptcy estate is “avoidance of unfairness as between competing creditors and the avoidance of administrative convenience ... due to the fact ... that assets are generally insufficient to pay debts in full ... in case funds are not sufficient to pay claims of equal dignity, the distribution is made only on the basis of principal debt.” See Bruning v. U.S., 376 U.S. 358, 362-363, 84 S.Ct. 906, 11 L.Ed.2d 772 (1964). This policy is not implicated when a creditor with a non-dischargeable debt moves against the discharged debtor personally, as opposed to against property of the estate which must be shared equally among all claimants. Thus claims for nondis-chargeable interest survive a debtor’s discharge as a personal obligation of the individual debtor.

Therefore, Debtors in cases under Chapter 7 and 11 of the Bankruptcy Code must eventually pay interest on nondischargeable indebtedness, even after obtaining their discharge. This includes interest on nondischargeable tax debt. See Bruning, 376 U.S. at 360, 84 S.Ct. 906, 11 L.Ed.2d 772 (1964) (Debtor remained personally liable for interest on nondischargeable tax obligation after his discharge). This is so because even if the tax claim is paid in full, the interest on the claim is itself non-dischargeable. Therefore, such interest continues to accrue during the pendency of the bankruptcy proceeding and reappears after discharge as a personal liability of the Debtor.

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Bluebook (online)
307 B.R. 394, 2004 Bankr. LEXIS 544, 93 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1875, 2004 WL 614549, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-moore-nysb-2004.