Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. v. United States

50 Fed. Cl. 140, 88 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5381, 2001 U.S. Claims LEXIS 150, 2001 WL 882794
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedAugust 6, 2001
DocketNo. 00-205T
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 50 Fed. Cl. 140 (Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. 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
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. v. United States, 50 Fed. Cl. 140, 88 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5381, 2001 U.S. Claims LEXIS 150, 2001 WL 882794 (uscfc 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

MILLER, Judge.

This case is before the court after argument on cross-motions for summary judgment. The issue for decision is whether the taxpayer is entitled to interest on overpay-ments of federal income tax for 1985 and 1986 to the date on which each overpayment was applied to satisfy a later-arising liability or to the date on which the tax was due for the year generating the liability.

[141]*141FACTS

The facts are not disputed. Marsh & McLennan Co., Inc. (“plaintiff’), overpaid its 1985 federal income taxes by $275,139.00 (the “1985 Overpayment”) and overpaid its 1986 federal income taxes by $3,412,083.00 (the “1986 Overpayment”). The 1985 Overpayment eventually was credited to plaintiffs 1987 tax liability. This credit was reflected in an Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) Transcript which was generated on April 11, 1994 (the “Transcript”). The Transcript shows that interest on the 1985 Overpayment was computed using an ending date of April 15,1988. The credit itself was not applied to the 1987 tax liability until March 15, 1989. Plaintiff asserts that its 1987 tax account did not go into “debit” status until March 15, 1989. Plaintiff claims that it was this date (March 15, 1989) that should have been the ending date for the calculation of interest on the 1985 Overpayment.

Similarly, the 1986 Overpayment was credited to plaintiffs 1988 tax liability. The Transcript reveals that interest on the 1986 Overpayment was computed using two end dates: April 15, 1988, for the amount of the 1986 Overpayment credited to the 1987 account and April 15, 1989, for the amount of the 1986 Overpayment offset to the 1988 account. Plaintiff again takes the position that its 1988 tax account did not go into “debit” status until September 15, 1989. It is this date that plaintiff designates for calculating interest on $1,074,541.00 of the 1986 Overpayment. Plaintiffs 1988 tax account again went into “debit” status on March 15, 1990, on which date the remaining portion of the 1986 Overpayment was credited to the 1988 tax account. According to plaintiff, interest should have been calculated to September 15, 1989, and March 15, 1990, for the respective amounts of the 1986 Overpayment, whereas defendant holds that the April 15 ending dates for the calculation of interest are proper.2

DISCUSSION

1. Summary judgment

Summary judgment is proper when there are no genuine issues of material fact in dispute and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See RCFC 56(c). The parties agree on the amounts of income tax overpayments for 1985 and 1986, the taxable years to which the overpayments were applied, and the date on which the accrual of allowable interest on the overpayment begins under section 6611 of the Internal Revenue Code. See 26 U.S.C. (“I.R.C.”) § 6611(b)(1) (2000). The only issue before the court is the date on which the accrual of allowable interest ends.

2. Ending date for interest on overpay-ments

“Tax and interest payments are creatures of statute, and such statutory provisions are to be given their plainest reasonable meaning, in implementation of the discernable intent of Congress.” Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children v. United States, 862 F.2d 1561, 1563 (Fed.Cir.1988) (footnote omitted).

I.R.C. § 6611, entitled “Interest on Over-payments,” provides as follows:

(b) Period. — Such interest shall be allowed and paid as follows:

(1) Credits. — In the case of a credit, from the date of the overpayment to the due date of the amount against which the credit is taken.

In advancing their respective interpretations of the phrase “due date of the amount against which the credit is taken,” both parties ground their arguments on the plain meaning of the statutory language.

Defendant focuses on the “due date” in I.R.C. § 6611(b)(1), arguing that “due date” is a term defined by Treas. Reg. § 301.6611-1(h)(2) (as amended in 1994), as “the last day fixed by law or regulation for the payment of the tax (determined without regard to any extension of time).” Corresponding with this definition, defendant posits that the “due [142]*142date” for overpayment of interest is the original due date of the return for the period to which the overpayment amount was credited. For corporate, calendar-year taxpayers like plaintiff, that date is the 15th day of March following the close of the calendar year. I.R.C. § 6072(b). Defendant implores the court to “do what the statute says,” Transcript of Proceedings, Marsh & McLennan Co. v. United States, No. 00-205T, at 24 (June 19, 2001), and import into I.R.C. § 6611(b)(1) the “due date” definition derived from the Treasury Regulation.

Plaintiff rejoins that Treas. Reg. § 301.611-l(h)(2) only provides that “in general” the term “due date” means “the last day fixed by law or regulation for the payment of tax (determined without regard to any extension of time) and not the date on which ... [the IRS] makes demand for the payment of the tax.” Plaintiff argues that the latter portion of the Treasury Regulation (which defendant failed to quote) indicates that section 301.611-l(h)(2) is concerned primarily with distinguishing between (i) the date on which tax is due and (ii) the date on which the IRS notifies the taxpayer that the tax is due. Reading section 301.6111(h)(2) as only a general rule, plaintiff dismisses it as not purporting to apply to the situation at hand.

The underlying flaw in defendant’s reliance on the Treasury Regulation and I.R.C. § 6072(b) is the explicit language contained in the statute. Given the existence of I.R.C. § 6072(b), it is manifest that Congress knew how to define “due date” as the 15th day of March following the close of the taxable year. Had Congress intended such a result with respect to the ending date for overpayment interest, it could have chosen explicit language to do so and included that language in I.R.C. § 6611(b)(1). More importantly, according to plaintiff, defendant’s focus on “due date” ignores the remainder of the statutory language in I.R.C. § 6611(b)(1) which requires interest to the “due date of the amount against which the credit is taken.”

Plaintiffs reliance on the plain language of I.R.C. § 6611(b)(1) suffers from a similar infirmity. Plaintiff focuses on one short phrase taken from I.R.C. § 6611(b)(1) — in this case “the amount against which the credit is taken.” Plaintiff argues that Treas. Reg. § 301.611(h)(2), is concerned with the “due date of the return,” not the “due date of the amount.” Plaintiff reasons that there can be no “amount” against which the overpayment credit is taken until the IRS determines that an amount is due and unpaid. The IRS determined in this case that an amount was due and unpaid on the due date of the return against which the credit was applied. It is the actual date on which the credit amount was applied to a tax liability, i.e., when the account went into “debit” status, that plaintiff argues is the “due date” under I.R.C. § 6611(b).3 Plaintiff also links this argument to another provision of the Internal Revenue Code — -I.R.C.

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50 Fed. Cl. 140, 88 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5381, 2001 U.S. Claims LEXIS 150, 2001 WL 882794, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marsh-mclennan-companies-inc-v-united-states-uscfc-2001.