Montgomery Ward & Co. v. State, Dept. of Revenue

628 P.2d 85, 1981 Colo. LEXIS 628
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedMarch 16, 1981
Docket28396
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 628 P.2d 85 (Montgomery Ward & Co. v. State, Dept. of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Montgomery Ward & Co. v. State, Dept. of Revenue, 628 P.2d 85, 1981 Colo. LEXIS 628 (Colo. 1981).

Opinions

ERICKSON, Justice.

The primary issue in this case is whether, under the “Emergency Retail Sales Tax Act of 1935,” article 26 of title 39, C.R.S.1973 (Sales Tax Act), the Executive Director (Director) of the Department of Revenue (Department) can force Montgomery Ward & Co., Inc. (Wards) to abandon its use of the cash receipts basis for paying sales tax on credit sales and require it to use the accrual basis for paying said tax.

As the result of an audit, the Department served Wards with a notice of deficiency and tax assessment. Additionally, the Director issued a revocation which withdrew Wards’ permission to use the cash receipts basis for remitting sales tax. After a hearing, the Director issued his final determination and assessment. Wards filed an appeal in the district court challenging the assessment and actions of the Director, and the district court affirmed. Wards appealed to the court of appeals. Based on the representation of the Department of Revenue that this case presents legal issues of major significance, the court of appeals certified the case to this Court. We accepted jurisdiction and now affirm the judgment of the district court.

Wards’ credit accounts are in the form of a revolving charge account. Under the agreement signed by the customer at Wards, the customer may pay off the entire amount of the charge within 30 days or elect to make payments over an extended period of time. In 1964, Wards requested permission from the Department of Revenue to change its method of paying Colorado sales tax from the accrual basis to the cash receipts basis. C.R.S. ’53, 138-6-11 (now section 39-26-111, C.R.S.1973). A retailer using the accrual basis must at the time of a credit sale pay the entire amount of sales tax due on that sale. On the other hand, a retailer using the cash receipts basis waits until the customer actually pays the tax and then remits that sum to the state.

Wards’ 1964 request to the Department set forth that:

“Title to some or all of our Accounts Receivable may, from time to time, be transferred to our wholly owned subsidiary, the Montgomery Ward Credit Corporation. The parent corporation will continue to administer the accounts and make collections. We respectfully request that such transfers to the subsidiary not be treated as actual disposition of such receivables so long as title is retained in the subsidiary

The Department granted Wards the right to use the cash receipts basis in a letter which stated: “Permission is herewith granted to make the change in the method of reporting from the sales basis to the cash receipts basis, effective January 1, 1964....”

Subsequent to obtaining permission from the Department to change its method of reporting and paying sales tax to the cash receipts basis, Wards began selling a large percentage of its accounts receivable to Montgomery Ward Credit . Corporation (Credit Corporation), a wholly owned subsidiary.

Thereafter, Wards established the following method for computing the amount of sales tax to be remitted monthly to the state. At the end of each month Wards calculated its total gross taxable sales, both cash and credit. Wards then determined the difference between the prior month’s accounts receivable beginning and ending balances. The difference in the prior month’s accounts receivable balance was then subtracted from the gross taxable sales. Sales tax was then remitted to the state based on the resulting balance. Any increase in the accounts receivable would mean an excess in credit sales over and above collection for a particular month with [88]*88a decrease of the balance on which sales tax is computed and remitted. Conversely, any decrease in accounts receivable would mean an excess in collections over credit sales thereby increasing the balance on which sales tax is computed and remitted.

Significantly, the accounting method used by Wards did not attempt to reflect the actual amount paid by customers on particular items or components in a credit account of a customer at the time a payment was made. The accounting procedure also did not make allowance for non-taxable items included in the accounts receivable. Wards’ procedure was to apply any payment made by a credit customer first to finance charges and then on a pro rata basis towards the payment of other charges on the account.1 By charging a finance fee on the balance of the account, Wards collects interest on a sales tax liability that has not been paid.

The Department commenced an audit of Wards in September, 1975. Following the audit, a notice of deficiency was served on Wards showing additional sales tax due, as of February 29, 1976, of $2,105,924.46. The Department’s deficiency determination was based on the following facts: (1) The sale of accounts receivable triggered the requirement to pay the sales tax on the entire amount due on the sale. See 1 Colorado Code of Regulations, Regulation 138-5-11 (hereinafter Regulation 138-5-11, C.C.R.). (2) Wards’ method of remitting sales tax was based on assumptions and estimates and not on the basis of cash actually received. (3) The effect of not making allowances for non-taxable items (finance charges, state and local sales taxes, insurance sales, installation charges and service charges are exempt from a sales tax) was to defer and delay the remittance of sales tax to the state on taxable items when Wards has been paid the sales tax on such items by its customers.

Between the time period when the audit commenced and service of the notice of deficiency, Wards remitted an additional $260,282.80 in its February return. The additional sales tax was remitted after the auditor expressed concern that non-taxable items were included in Wards’ method of estimating its taxes. The $260,282.80 sum was based upon an estimate by Wards’ national sales tax manager to reflect that approximately 11% of the total receivables were non-taxable items.2

After service of the notice of deficiency, Wards filed a timely protest and the matter came on for hearing before the Director of the Department of Revenue. The Director entered a final determination sustaining the Department’s assessment and imposed a penalty of $41,881.86, plus interest of $15,-735.27 on the $260,282.80. The Director specifically found that Wards had “employed a method that effectively deferred payment to Colorado of sales tax due not in accordance with the statutes and regulations thereunder.” Additionally, by letter dated January 28, 1977, the Director revoked Wards’ permission to remit sales tax on the cash receipts basis. See section 39-26-111, C.R.S.1973.

Wards appealed and a trial de novo was held in the district court. The district court upheld the Director’s final determination except as to the penalty and interest that had been assessed. In its conclusions of law regarding the issue relating to the $260,-282.80 sum remitted by Wards to the state in its February, 1976 return, the court declared:

“The Court finds that although the method used by the plaintiff [Wards] in computing the tax was not authorized by statute, the fact that the Department consulted with representatives of plaintiff as to a proper percentage to use in determining non-taxable items, no penalty should be assessed against the plaintiff. The Department tacitly approved [89]*89the procedure although not agreeing to the percentage.

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Montgomery Ward & Co. v. State, Dept. of Revenue
628 P.2d 85 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1981)

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Bluebook (online)
628 P.2d 85, 1981 Colo. LEXIS 628, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montgomery-ward-co-v-state-dept-of-revenue-colo-1981.