Laurel Pipe Line Co. v. Commonwealth

615 A.2d 841, 150 Pa. Commw. 135, 1992 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 560
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 20, 1992
DocketNo. 318 F.R. 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 615 A.2d 841 (Laurel Pipe Line Co. v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Laurel Pipe Line Co. v. Commonwealth, 615 A.2d 841, 150 Pa. Commw. 135, 1992 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 560 (Pa. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

PALLADINO, Judge.

Petitioner Laurel Pipe Line Company (Taxpayer) seeks review of an order of the Board of Finance and Revenue which refused to characterize as nonbusiness income Taxpayer’s gain on the sale of an idle pipeline and corresponding equipment, land, rights of way, buildings, oil tanks, and similar real and personal property. We agree with the order of the Board of Finance and Revenue and enter judgment for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Commonwealth).

Appeals from the Board of Finance and Revenue are de novo proceedings before the commonwealth court. Doyle Equipment Co. v. Commonwealth, 117 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 38, 542 A.2d 644 (1988). Consequently, the record for such appeals is not certified by the Board of Finance and Revenue but, rather, is created before the commonwealth court. Id. In the present case, the record before the commonwealth court consists of a stipulation of facts entered into by Taxpayer and the Commonwealth (i.e., the taxing authority) pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1571(f). We hereby adopt the parties’ stipulation of facts as our fact-findings in this case.

Taxpayer is an Ohio corporation that transports petroleum products by pipelines from refinery connections in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and to intermediate points. Stipulation at ¶¶ 1-2. From 1976 to 1983, Taxpayer also operated a 110-mile, petroleum products pipeline between Aliquippa, Pennsylvania and Cleveland, Ohio. Id. at ¶ 5. In 1983, Taxpayer ceased operation of the Aliquippa-Cleveland pipeline. Id. On December 22, 1986, Taxpayer sold the idle Aliquippa-Cleveland pipeline and corresponding equipment, land, rights of way, buildings, oil tanks, and similar real and personal property1 for a gain of $3,766,047. Id. The present appeal asks us to determine how this gain may be [140]*140assessed for the purpose of computing Taxpayer’s 1986 Pennsylvania corporate net income tax.2

In its 1986 corporate net income tax return, Taxpayer treated the gain from the sale of the Aliquippa-Cleveland pipeline as nonbusiness income and allocated a portion of the gain to Pennsylvania and a portion of the gain to Ohio. Id. at ¶ 6. The gain was allocated between Ohio and Pennsylvania by using the ratio of the length of the pipeline located in each state (42.3 miles in Pennsylvania and 67.7 miles in Ohio) to the total pipeline length of 110 miles (“pipeline ratio”). Id. at ¶¶ 6 and 13; see also Taxpayer’s Appellate Brief at 7. Applying the pipeline ratio, Taxpayer allocated $1,448,6533 of the gain to Pennsylvania as nonbusiness income. Stipulation at ¶¶ 6 and 13. Based on this allocation, Taxpayer’s total 19864 Pennsylvania corporate net income tax assessment would have been $155,109. Id. at ¶ 13.

On June 2, 1988, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (Department) entered into a settlement with Taxpayer regarding Taxpayer’s 1986 Pennsylvania corporate net income tax. Id. at ¶ 8. The settlement classified Taxpayer’s gain on the sale of the Aliquippa-Cleveland pipeline as business income to be apportioned to Pennsylvania by using the ratio of revenue-barrel miles5 in Pennsylvania to the total revenue-barrel miles everywhere (“revenue-barrel” ratio). Id. at ¶ 9; see also subsection 401(3)2.(c) of the Tax Reform Code of 1971 (Code), Act of March 4, 1971, P.L. 6, as amended, 72 P.S. [141]*141§ 7401(3)2.(c).I. ****6 Applying the revenue-barrel ratio, the Department apportioned $3,744,520 of the gain to Pennsylvania as business income.7 Stipulation at ¶¶ 9 and 12. Based on this apportionment, Taxpayer’s total 19868 Pennsylvania corporate net income tax assessment was $373,216. Id. at ¶¶ 9 and 12.

Taxpayer timely filed a petition for resettlement with the Department’s Board of Appeals which denied the petition. Id. at ¶ 10. Taxpayer then timely filed a petition for review with the Board of Finance and Revenue (hereafter, Board) which denied the petition. Id. Thereafter, Taxpayer timely filed a petition for review with the commonwealth court. Id.; see also Pa.R.A.P. 1571.

On appeal, Taxpayer raises three alternative issues concerning whether all or a portion of the gain from the sale of the Aliquippa-Cleveland pipeline is taxable by the Commonwealth. Taxpayer asks (1) whether the entire gain from the sale of the pipeline falls within the definition of taxable business income at subsection 401(3)2.(a)(l)(A) of the Code,9 (2) whether the idle Ohio segment of the pipeline constitutes an asset unrelated to Taxpayer’s regular Pennsylvania business activities so that the gain from the sale of the Ohio segment of the pipeline is not subject to taxation by the Commonwealth, and (3) whether the commerce and due process clauses of the United States Constitution preclude the Commonwealth from using the revenue-barrel ratio to tax the gain from the sale of the Ohio segment of the pipeline.

I.

Taxpayer argues first that, contrary to the Department’s and the Board’s determinations, the gain from the sale [142]*142of its idle Aliquippa-Cleveland pipeline qualifies as nonbusiness income instead of business income. For taxation purposes, the significant distinction between business income and nonbusiness income is that business income of pipeline companies is subject to apportionment10 whereas nonbusiness income of pipeline companies “is allocated to the situs of the income producing property.” Welded Tube Co. of America v. Commonwealth, 101 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 32, 41, 515 A.2d 988, 993 (1986).

Subsection 401(3)2.(a)(l)(A) of the Code states that business income

means income arising from transactions and activity in the regular course of the taxpayer’s trade or business and includes income from tangible and intangible property if the acquisition, management, and disposition of the property constitute integral parts of the taxpayer’s regular trade or business operations.

Subsection 401(3)2.(a)(l)(D) of the Code, 72 P.S. § 7401(3)2.(a)(l)(D), states that nonbusiness income “means all income other than business income.”

Welded Tube Co. is the seminal Pennsylvania appellate, decision which defines business income within the context of subsection 401(3)2.(a)(l)(A) of the Code. In Welded Tube Co., the commonwealth court held that the first and second portions of subsection 401(3)2.(a)(l)(A) express two separate and alternative tests for determining whether a gain qualifies as business income: the transactional test and the functional test.

Pursuant to the transactional test, a “gain is classified as business income if it is derived from transactions in which the taxpayer regularly engages.” Welded Tube Co., 101 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. at 42, 515 A.2d at 993. To ascertain whether the gain from a particular transaction should be designated business income, courts consider the frequency and regularity of similar past transactions by the taxpayer and the taxpayer’s subsequent use of the gain. Id.

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Related

Laurel Pipe Line Co. v. Commonwealth
642 A.2d 472 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
615 A.2d 841, 150 Pa. Commw. 135, 1992 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 560, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/laurel-pipe-line-co-v-commonwealth-pacommwct-1992.