Kentucky Jockey Club v. Lucas

14 F.2d 539, 5 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 6148, 1926 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1367
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedJuly 29, 1926
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 14 F.2d 539 (Kentucky Jockey Club v. Lucas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kentucky Jockey Club v. Lucas, 14 F.2d 539, 5 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 6148, 1926 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1367 (W.D. Ky. 1926).

Opinion

DAWSON, District Judge.

Plaintiff, a Kentucky corporation, for federal taxation purposes uses a fiscal year beginning March 1st of each calendar year and ending on' the last day of the succeeding February. Therefore, for its taxable year extending from March 1, 1920, to February 28, 1921, its return was due on May 15, 1921. On May 14, 1921, it made its return, showing that it owed a total of income tax, war profits, and excess profits tax, of $413,557.19, and electing to pay same in quarterly installments, as authorized by law. Subsequent to the filing of this return, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue caused to be made a field audit of the books and records of the plaintiff, and as a result thereof reached the conclusion that the tax actually due by the plaintiff was $639,018.91, instead of the amount fixed in plaintiff’s return, and so notified the plaintiff on the 28th day of October, 1921. Plaintiff objected to this action of the Commissioner, and, after a protracted investigation, including a second field audit and hearings, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue finally fixed the tax at $637,764.59, and on February 17, 1925, notified the plaintiff of his intention to fix the tax at this amount. Plaintiff ■ accepted the findings of the Commissioner and agreed that an immediate assessment might be made of the deficiency in the tax, amounting to $224,207.-40. The assessment was made final, and on April 8, 1925, demand in writing was made upon the plaintiff that it pay the deficiency, and the further sum of $47,083.55, representing interest on the deficiency at the rate of one-half per cent, per month from the time this deficiency should have been paid under the installment plan as authorized by law. Plaintiff paid the deficiency tax in full, but protested against the assessment of the interest item. After a hearing, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue overruled the protest and directed the collection of the interest charge, which on April 29,1925, was paid by the plaintiff under protest. Thereafter claim for a refund of this interest item was regularly made, and denied by the Commissioner. This suit was then brought to recover the sum of $47,083.55, with interest from the date of its payment. A jury has been waived, and separate findings of fact and conclusions of law requested.

It is admitted that the plaintiff made no understatement of the tax in its return, with intent to defraud the government; that the time of the payment of the tax was not postponed at the request of the taxpayer, and there is no evidence of negligence of the taxpayer in making the return, other than such inference as might be drawn from the fact that the plaintiff accepted and paid, without protest, the deficiency assessment as finally made by the Commissioner. In support of its contention that the government was without right to collect the interest item, plaintiff points to the admitted fact that its total gross income for the taxable year involved in this ease (plaintiff’s fiscal year) was $2,152,422.-83, and that with the exception of $1,084, it was all earned between March 1, 1920, and December 31,1920, and insists that therefore the right of the government to collect interest on any deficiency in tax due it for the taxable year in question, except possibly as to the $1,084, earned in the months .of January and February, 1921, must depend upon the provisions of the Revenue Act of 1918 (40 Stat. 1057), rather than upon the provisions of the Revenue Act of 1921 (42 Stat. 227), which became a law on November 23, 1921, and which by its terms was effective as of January 1, 1921, and that, inasmuch as the Revenue Act of 1918 made no provision for the imposition of interest on a deficiency assessment such as this one, the government was without right to impose the interest charge in question on any part of the deficiency arising out of income earned in the calendar year 1920.

The government, on the other hand, insists that the Revenue Act of 1921 in express terms covered the return made by the plaintiff on May 14,1921, and that the question of interest on any deficiency tax assessed on such return’ is controlled by that act, rather than by the act of 1918. It is further contended by the government that, even if it should be [541]*541held that the act of 1921 does not apply on the question of the interest involved in this ease, the government had the right to impose the interest charge, notwithstanding the silence of the act of 1918 on this question. In support of this latter contention, the government relies upon the case of Billings v. United States, 232 U. S. 261, 34 S. Ct. 421, 58 L. Ed. 596, and the eases therein cited, to the effect that the United States government has the right in all eases, unless expressly forbidden by statute, to collect interest on past-due taxes, where the imposition of the interest charge is equitable and just.

That portion of the Revenue Aet of 1921 dealing with income taxes is found in title 2 thereof, which extends from section 200 to section 263, both inclusive (Comp. St. §§ 6336%a-6336%zzz). Section 263 reads as follows:

“Sec. 263. That this title shall take effect as of January 1,1921.”

That portion of the act which deals with war profits and excess profits taxes is found in title 3 thereof, which extends from section 300 to section 338, both inclusive (Comp. St. §§ 63367/ioa-6336Vi6q). Section 338 provides :

“See. 338. That this title shall take effect as of January 1,1921.”

By virtue of these retroactive provisions, the Revenue Aet of 1921, in so far as it dealt wifh income taxation and- war profits and excess profits taxation, became effective as of a date prior to the close of plaintiff’s current fiscal year.

Section 250(b), which is a part of title 2 of the aet (Comp. St. § 6336%tt), reads in part as follows:

“(b) As soon as practicable after the return is filed, the Commissioner shall examine it. If it then appears that the correct amount of the tax is greater or less than that shown in the return, the installments shall be recomputed. If the amount already paid exceeds that which should have been paid on the basis of the installments as recomputed, the excess so paid shall be ereditéd against the subsequent installments; and if the amount already paid exceeds the correct amount of the tax, the excess shall be credited or refunded to the taxpayer in accordance with the provisions of section 252.

“If the amount already paid is less than that which should have been paid, the difference, to the extent not covered by any credits due to the taxpayer under section 252 (hereinafter called 'deficiency’), together with interest thereon at the rate of one-half of 1 per cent, per month from the time the tax was due (or, if paid on the installment basis, on the deficiency of each installment from the time the installment was due), shall be paid upon notice and demand by the collector.”

Section 336, which is a part of title 3 of the aet (Comp. St. § 63367/i6o), provides:

“Sec. 336. That every corporation, not exempt under section 304, shall make a return for the purposes of this title. Such return shall be made, and the taxes^ imposed by this title shall be paid, at the same times and places, in the same manner, and subject to the same conditions, as is provided in the ease of returns and payment of income tax by corporations for the purposes of title 2, and all the provisions of that title not inapplicable, including penalties, are hereby made applicable to the taxes imposed by this title.”

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Bluebook (online)
14 F.2d 539, 5 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 6148, 1926 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1367, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kentucky-jockey-club-v-lucas-kywd-1926.