Kitt v. United States

47 Fed. Cl. 821, 2000 WL 1478394
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedOctober 6, 2000
DocketNo. 99-316T
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 47 Fed. Cl. 821 (Kitt v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kitt v. United States, 47 Fed. Cl. 821, 2000 WL 1478394 (uscfc 2000).

Opinion

Opinion and Order

WEINSTEIN, Judge.

This case is before the court on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. No facts are disputed. The question of law for the court to decide is whether retroactive imposition of a new 10-percent tax on a non-qualified withdrawal from plaintiffs’ Roth IRA constitutes a violation of the Due Process or Just Compensation Clauses of the Fifth Amendment, or of the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment. Concluding that plaintiffs are not entitled to a refund of the retroactively-imposed tax, the court denies plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and grants defendant’s cross-motion for summary judgment.

Statutory and Legislative Background

Congress enacted the first provisions allowing favorable tax treatment of individual retirement accounts (traditional IRAs) in 1974. These provisions are codified at Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C. or Code)1 § 408 (1994). Generally, distributions from traditional IRAs are included in a taxpayer’s gross income. Id. § 408(d)(1). The tax treatment of this income is governed by section 72. Id.

I.R.C. section 72(b) provides that “[gjross income does not include” amounts of a distribution attributable to the taxpayer’s investment in an IRA. See id. § 72(b)(1) (1994) (excluding from gross income any amount in a distribution that “bears the same ratio to such amount as the investment ... bears to the expected return----”). Section 72 also provides for a 10-percent additional tax on a non-retirement (and thus not excepted)2 distribution from an IRA, to the extent the distribution is includible in gross income:

If any taxpayer receives any amount from a qualified retirement plan (as defined in section 4974(c)), the taxpayer’s tax under this chapter for the taxable year in which such amount is received shall be increased by an amount equal to 10 percent of the portion of such amount which is includible in gross income.

Id. § 72(t)(1) (1994) (section 72(t) tax). Congress imposed the section 72(t) tax on withdrawals for non-retirement purposes that were includible in gross income “in order to discourage withdrawals and to recapture a measure of the tax benefits that have been provided.” H.R.Rep. No. 99-426, at 728-29 (1985).

The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, Pub.L. No. 105-34, § 302, 111 Stat. 788, 825-29 (1997) (codified at I.R.C. § 408A (Supp. III 1997)) (1997 Act or Act), added the Roth IRA to the I.R.C. The Act made contributions to Roth IRAs not deductible from income. Id. § 408A(c)(1). However, it provided that any “qualified distribution from a Roth IRA shall not be includible in gross income.” Id. § 408A(d)(1)(A).

Under the Act, distributions from a traditional IRA immediately contributed to a Roth IRA were considered “conversions” or “rollovers” (conversion rollover contributions). Id. § 408A(d)(3)(C). “Notwithstanding section 408(d)(3) ...,” such contributions were included in gross income to the extent otherwise includible. Id. § 408A(d)(3)(A)(i). However, a taxpayer making a conversion [823]*823rollover contribution was exempt from the section 72(t) penalty. Id. § 408A(d)(3)(A)(ii) (“section 72(t) shall not apply ....”).

Section 408A(d)(l)(B) provided a special rule for applying section 72 to non-qualified distributions from a Roth IRA:

In applying section 72 to any distribution from a Roth IRA which is not a qualified distribution, such distribution shall be treated as made from contributions to the Roth IRA to the extent that such distribution, when added to all previous distributions from the Roth IRA, does not exceed the aggregate amount of contributions to the Roth IRA.

Under this provision, if a taxpayer made a conversion rollover contribution, followed by a distribution from his Roth IRA in an amount less than or equal to the conversion rollover amount, the whole distribution would be attributable to his investment in the Roth IRA pursuant to section 408A(d)(l)(B), and not includible in gross income pursuant to section 72(b)(1). In short, after a conversion rollover contribution to a Roth IRA a taxpayer could make an immediate non-qualified distribution from the Roth IRA and completely avoid the 10-percent section 72(t) tax, because the tax only applies to amounts “includible in gross income.”

The Roth IRA’s legislative history clearly states that Congress did intend to exclude from gross income non-qualified Roth IRA distributions (to the extent attributable to contributions to the Roth IRA) but did not intend to exempt from the section 72(t) tax both qualified rollover conversion contributions into a Roth IRA and otherwise non-qualified distributions from the Roth IRA:

Qualified distributions from an AD IRA [later renamed as Roth IRA] are not includible in gross income, nor subject to the additional 10-percent tax on early withdrawals ____ Distributions from an AD IRA that are not qualified distributions are includible in income to the extent attributable to earnings, and subject to the 10-percent early withdrawal tax (unless an exception applies).

H.R.Rep. No. 105-148, at 337-38 (1997), reprinted in 1997 U.S.C.C.A.N 678, 731-32; see also H.R.Rep. No. 105-220, at 380 (1997), reprinted in 1997 U.S.C.C.A.N 1129, 1192 (Conference Report) (stating that the Senate’s amendment provided for the same taxation of distributions).

As early as August 25, 1997, tax analysts noted both that the 1997 Act contained this unintended consequence and that Congress would consider a cure. See 76 Tax Notes 1003 (Aug. 25, 1997); see also 76 Tax Notes 1663 (Sept. 29, 1997) (House Ways and Means Committee considering corrections to cure unintended section 72(t) consequences). On December 12, 1997, the IRS published interim guidance on Roth IRAs stating that the House had passed a cure that, if enacted, would be retroactive to January 1, 1998. I.R.S. Announcement 97-122, 1997-50 I.R.B. 63.

Plaintiffs effected the rollover and distribution in March and April, 1998, seven months after the first Tax Notes article and three months after the I.R.B. was published. On July 22, 1998, Congress enacted the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (1998 Act). Pub.L. No. 105-206, § 6005, 112 Stat. 685 (1998). The 1998 Act added a “special rule for applying section 72” to the Roth IRA. I.R.C. § 408A(d)(3)(F) (West Supp.2000). This rule states that taxpayers may not avoid the section 72(t) tax on non-qualified distributions from a Roth IRA:

In general. — If—(I) any portion of a distribution from a Roth IRA is properly allocable to a qualified rollover contribution described in this paragraph; and (II) such distribution is made within the 5-taxable year period beginning with the taxable year in which such contribution was made, then section 72(t) shall be applied as if such portion were includible in gross income.

Id. § 408A(d)(3)(F)(i). The 1998 Act amendments were made applicable to all Roth IRA withdrawals occurring in 1998, ie. retroactive to the beginning of the 1998 tax year.

Facts

The parties have stipulated to the following:

[824]*824On March 6, 1998, Mr.

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