Onan Corp. v. United States

19 Cl. Ct. 678, 65 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 934, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 97, 1990 WL 21403
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedMarch 8, 1990
DocketNo. 376-89T
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 19 Cl. Ct. 678 (Onan Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Onan Corp. v. United States, 19 Cl. Ct. 678, 65 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 934, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 97, 1990 WL 21403 (cc 1990).

Opinion

ORDER

MOODY R. TIDWELL, III, Judge:

This case is before the court on defendant’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted pursuant to Rule 12(b)(4) of the United States Claims Court. Such a motion requires the court to consider whether, upon the facts as alleged by plaintiff, the com[679]*679plaint states a claim for which this court may provide relief. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). Plaintiff seeks interest on a refund for overpayment of federal income taxes. It alleges that it is entitled to interest for the period of time between the date of the refund check and the date plaintiff received the check.

FACTS

Plaintiff filed an application for a corporate tax refund with the defendant’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on April 14, 1986.1 Plaintiff sought to reduce its tax liability for 1982 by carrying back a net operating loss in the amount of $7,806,-706.00, and an unused 1985 general business credit in the amount of $1,801,654.00. Plaintiff thereby sought a reduction in its 1982 tax liability in the amount of $5,392,-738.00.

Because of the size of the anticipated refund, and pursuant to a recently adopted IRS practice, plaintiff requested that its refund be issued via an electronic funds transfer directly to plaintiff’s bank account, rather than by paper check sent through the mail. See I.R.S. News Release 85-14, 1985-4 I.R.B. 43. Plaintiff submitted this request on the appropriate IRS Form 8302.2

On May 26, 1986, the IRS notified plaintiff that its 1982 tax liability had been reduced in accordance with plaintiff’s request. The IRS then failed to issue plaintiff’s refund via an electronic funds transfer. Instead, it mailed plaintiff a check dated August 22, 1986 in the amount of $5,623,409.00. This amount included the adjustments that plaintiff had requested plus accrued interest in the amount of $230,671.23.3 Plaintiff did not receive the check until September 5, 1986.

Plaintiff subsequently filed a claim with the IRS seeking to recover additional interest in the amount of $19,412.32 for the period of time from the date of the refund check, August 22,1986, until the date plaintiff received the check, September 5, 1986. Plaintiff argued that the IRS’ failure to honor its application for a wire transfer of plaintiff’s refund resulted in the loss of use of the refund money for fourteen days. Accordingly, plaintiff requested a refund of additional interest in the amount of $19,-412.32 calculated at an interest rate of nine percent per annum. The IRS fully disallowed this request by notice on July 6, 1986.

DISCUSSION

Both parties to this action agree that the relevant provision of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) governing the payment of interest on an income tax refund is I.R.C. § 6611 (1982). Defendant argues that this provision does not permit payment of interest on a tax refund in excess of the amount prescribed by the statute. Since plaintiff has been paid all of the interest due and required by section 6611, defendant argues, the complaint states no claim upon which relief may be granted. Plaintiff, on the other hand, alleges that it has not been paid all of the interest due and required under section 6611. Furthermore, plaintiff contends that the IRS’ choice of the mode and timeliness of the delivery of plaintiff’s refund constitutes an abuse of discretion entitling plaintiff to interest beyond the literal requirements of this statute.

Section 6611 provides, in relevant part, that interest on a tax refund shall be paid:

[680]*680“[FJrom the date of the overpayment to the date (to be determined by the Secretary) preceding the date of the refund check by not more than 30 days____” I.R.C. § 6611(b)(2). Section 6611’s rather simple formula requires the court to determine what is meant by “the date of the overpayment,” and the “date of the refund check.” For the purposes of determining the period of interest for a refund based on a net operating loss carryback or an unused business tax credit, I.R.C. § 6611(f) instructs that the date of the overpayment is deemed to be the “filing date.” The filing date, in turn, is deemed to be the latest date prescribed for the taxpayer to file its income tax return in the tax year for which the overpayment is claimed. I.R.C. § 6611(f)(3)(A). In this case, the date of the overpayment is deemed to be March 15,1986. Not surprisingly, the date of the refund check is the date the check was drawn, not the date on which the taxpayer received the check. See Dresser v. United States, 84 F.Supp. 993, 995 (N.D. Okla.1949), affd, 180 F.2d 410 (10th Cir.1950); Pugh v. Ladner, 52 F.Supp. 604 (E.D.Pa.1943). In this case, the date of the refund check is August 22, 1986.

Thus, the period of time for which plaintiff was entitled to accrue interest on its income tax refund was, at the shortest, from March 15, 1986 to a date thirty days prior to the date of the refund check — July 23, 1986. At the longest, the period of interest required by the statute was from March 15, 1986 to the date of the refund check — -August 22, 1986. Plaintiff was, as alleged, paid accrued interest in the amount of $230,671.23. Based on the statutorily prescribed interest rates then in effect 4 it appears that plaintiff accrued interest on its overpayment for the period March 15, 1986 to August 20, 1986. This period of interest is comfortably within the bounds of the statute and the discretion of the Secretary. The statute requires no more.

Even were the court to construe “the date of the refund check” as meaning the date that the taxpayer received the check, which the court emphatically does not, plaintiff would have received all that it was due. Plaintiff received the refund check on September 5, 1986. Thus, interest, which had accrued until August 20, 1986, was paid to within sixteen days of the date plaintiff received the refund check. Again, even under this construction of section 6611, the period of interest was well within the requirements of the statute and the discretion of the Secretary.

According to the plain and unambiguous meaning of section 6611, plaintiffs complaint states no claim upon which relief may be granted. Plaintiff urges, however, that it is entitled to additional interest under the circumstances of this case because defendant’s action or inaction constituted an abuse of its discretion in administering section 6611. In specific, plaintiff asserts two abuses of discretion: (1) the failure to honor plaintiff’s properly made request for a wire transfer of its refund; and (2) the failure to timely send the paper check through the mail. The court addresses both of these assertions in turn.

Plaintiff’s first asserted abuse of discretion is the IRS’ failure to honor its request for a wire transfer of its refund. Plaintiff’s argument rests on a misperception of the IRS’ obligations with respect to its electronic funds transfer policy. The mere fact that the IRS has offered this option to taxpayers does not, of itself, create a right in favor of taxpayers to have the IRS accede to a wire transfer request in every case. The wire transfer policy is not mentioned in any statute or regulation. It is not even made part of a formal Revenue Procedure or Revenue Ruling.

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19 Cl. Ct. 678, 65 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 934, 1990 U.S. Claims LEXIS 97, 1990 WL 21403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/onan-corp-v-united-states-cc-1990.