In Re Wukelic

396 F. Supp. 141, 36 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5962, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12522
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedMay 5, 1975
Docket58,992
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 396 F. Supp. 141 (In Re Wukelic) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Wukelic, 396 F. Supp. 141, 36 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5962, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12522 (S.D. Ohio 1975).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

DUNCAN, District Judge.

The United States has appealed to this Court for a review of the Order of the Honorable John J. Dilenschneider, Bankruptcy Judge, entered January 4, 1974, granting a discharge of certain claims of the United States for income taxes. Since the facts of this case have been fully set out in the order of the Bankruptcy Judge only a brief summary need be stated here.

The bankrupt, Carolyn June Wukelic, was previously married to Dr. Richard Haley, with whom she filed a joint tax re *142 turn in April, 1969. The return indicated that all but a small part of the family income was attributable to Dr. Haley’s work as a physician. In addition to certain personal itemized deductions, the return listed business deductions arising from Dr. Haley’s medical work, a twenty thousand dollar ($20,000.00) loss from the operation of a farm owned by Haley, and a depreciation on his Cessna airplane. These deductions were subsequently disputed by the Internal Revenue Service (hereinafter “IRS”); because of administrative review the IRS did not make a deficiency assessment until June 8, 1973. Mrs. Wukelic was divorced from Dr. Haley in 1970 and has since remarried. In December, 1972, she filed a Petition in Bankruptcy and an Application to Determine Dischargeability of Taxes. It is the Bankruptcy Judge’s order upon this Application which is the subject of this appeal.

Two basic questions are raised by the government’s appeal. The first question on appeal is whether the Bankruptcy Court was correct in discharging the taxes arising from the disallowance of the deductions pursuant to Section 17a(l) of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C. § 35(a)(1). The resolution of this question is dependent upon an interpretation of § 17a, which reads in pertinent part:

A discharge in bankruptcy shall release a bankrupt from all his provable debts, whether allowable in full or in part, except such as (1) are taxes which became legally due and owing by the bankrupt to the United States or to any State or any subdivision thereof within three years preceding bankruptcy: Provided, however, that a discharge in bankruptcy shall not release a bankrupt from any taxes (c) which were not reported on a return made by the bankrupt and which were not assessed prior to bankruptcy by reason of a prohibition on assessment pending the exhaustion of administrative or judicial remedies available to the bankrupt, .

Generally this section allows the dischargeability of liability for taxes due and owing for a period of more than three years at the time the bankruptcy petition is filed. It does, however, state five exceptions to this general rule, which operate to bar the discharge of a bankrupt's tax liability. The third of these exceptions, set out above, provides the basis for the claim of the United States that the Bankruptcy Judge erred in allowing a discharge for Mrs. Wukelic’s tax debt.

Since it is conceded that the taxes in question were due and owing more than three years at the time the petition in bankruptcy was filed and since it is also undisputed that no assessment was made prior to bankruptcy because administrative remedies were being pursued by Dr. Haley, the issue may be narrowed to a determination of the words “taxes . not reported on a return” in the proviso. Briefly stated, the bankrupt-appellee contends, and it was so held by Judge Dilenschneider, that she had “reported” her taxes when she completely stated all her gross income and the basis for the deductions claimed. The United States argues, however, that because the actual tax liability was not properly stated, the bankrupt did not, in fact, “report” her taxes within the meaning of the § 17a(l)(c) proviso.

Judicial interpretation of these words has been limited and divided. Equally scarce is any significant legislative history that would be of help in deciding the interpretation to be given these words. As the United States Court of Appeals for Fifth Circuit commented:

From all we have been able to discover, the specific proviso which controls the case at bar just never received direct public congressional attention or explication.

In re Indian Lake Estates, Inc., 428 F.2d 319, 323 (5th Cir. 1970), cert, denied 400 U.S. 964, 91 S.Ct. 366, 27 *143 L.Ed.2d 383 (1970). In that case the Fifth Circuit proceeded to conclude that the taxes were not dischargeable. The Court stated:

It is obvious that the assessment was for the difference between the amount shown by the taxpayer on its return and the amount calculated as correct by the Director. It is equally transparent that it was therefore an assessment for an amount of taxes not reported on a return made by a bankrupt.

In re Indian Lake Estates, Inc., supra, at 324. Contrary to the case at bar In re Indian Lake Estates, Inc. dealt with a corporate debtor.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit came to a similar conclusion regarding non-dischargeability of an individual debtor’s taxes by applying the common rule of statutory construction that words are presumed to be used in “their ordinary and usual sense, and with the meaning commonly attributable to them.” In re Michaud, 458 F.2d 953, 957 (3d Cir.) cert, denied 409 U.S. 876, 93 S.Ct. 125, 34 L.Ed.2d 129 (1972) (citations omitted). Finding that a dictionary defined “report” as: “to give a formal or official account or statement of; state formally,” the Third Circuit concluded that as used by Congress “report” connoted a formal presentation of the tax liability rather than an informal presentation of information which gave rise to the liability. With all due respect to the Third Circuit, I feel compelled to agree with the Bankruptcy Judge herein that neither the rationale nor the result of Michaud is persuasive when applied to the particular facts of this no-asset case. The rationale of Michaud ignores the fundamental purpose behind the Bankruptcy Act: the effective rehabilitation of the individual bankrupt. Because of this purpose, its provisions are remedial in nature and as such should be construed liberally; conversely, exceptions to its remedial provisions should be construed narrowly. See In re Michaud, 317 F. Supp. 1002 (W.D.Pa.1970) reversed on other grounds 458 F.2d 953 (3d Cir. 1972), and cases cited therein. The government’s position would not only emasculate the remedial nature of the Bankruptcy Act but would make it contingent upon the intricacies of the tax law as to whether certain claimed deductions were allowed or disallowed by the IRS. Moreover, as one noted commentator has observed, such an interpretation of proviso would produce some ironic results:

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396 F. Supp. 141, 36 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5962, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12522, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-wukelic-ohsd-1975.