Powers v. Commissioner

1993 T.C. Memo. 125, 65 T.C.M. 2214, 1993 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 123
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMarch 30, 1993
DocketDocket Nos. 7766-81, 719-82
StatusUnpublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 1993 T.C. Memo. 125 (Powers v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Powers v. Commissioner, 1993 T.C. Memo. 125, 65 T.C.M. 2214, 1993 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 123 (tax 1993).

Opinion

M. LANE POWERS, Petitioner, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Powers v. Commissioner
Docket Nos. 7766-81, 719-82
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1993-125; 1993 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 123; 65 T.C.M. (CCH) 2214;
March 30, 1993, Filed

*123 An order reaffirming T.C. Memo 1986-494 will be issued.

For petitioner: Robert I. White and Lawrence W. Sherlock.
For respondent: William G. Bissell.
CLAPP

CLAPP

SUPPLEMENTAL MEMORANDUM OPINION

CLAPP, Judge: These cases are before us on petitioner's motion for reconsideration of our Memorandum Opinion filed in the above cases on September 29, 1986, T.C. Memo. 1986-494. Petitioner's motion was filed out of time on June 1, 1992, by leave of Court.

Petitioner contends that we should vacate our Memorandum Opinion granting respondent's motion for partial summary judgment and denying petitioner's cross-motion for partial summary judgment on the grounds that petitioner had made valid elections under section 172(b)(3)(C) 1 to carry forward his 1978 and 1979 net operating losses. Petitioner bases his contention on this Court's Opinion in Plumb v. Commissioner, 97 T.C. 632 (1991). We find that the facts in Plumb are distinguishable from the facts before us, and for the reasons stated previously in T.C. Memo. 1986-494, we hold that petitioner made valid elections under*124 section 172(b)(3)(C) to carry forward his 1978 and 1979 net operating losses. Therefore, we deny petitioner's motion for reconsideration.

The facts of these cases were set forth in detail in T.C. Memo. 1986-494, and we incorporate those facts herein by this reference. We repeat here a brief summary of facts necessary to decide the motion before us.

In his second amended petitions filed for the years at issue, petitioner asserted that he was not liable for the determined deficiencies because he had net operating losses in 1978 and 1979 which could be carried back to the years in issue, resulting in overpayments for those years. The parties filed cross-motions for partial summary judgment regarding petitioner's claim to a net operating loss carryback. Attached to petitioner's 1978 tax return*125 was a schedule titled "Election Statements" containing the following statement: "Pursuant to Section 56(b)(3)(C), Taxpayer elects to carry forward to 1979 the net operating loss of 1978." A similar statement was attached to petitioner's 1979 tax return.

Respondent claimed that those statements were valid, binding elections to waive the net operating loss carrybacks, and therefore, petitioner was required to carry the losses forward. Petitioner argued that he did not intend to make elections relinquishing the net operating loss carrybacks, that the statements on the schedules attached to the returns did not meet the requirements of valid elections, and that even if he intended to and did make valid elections, he did so relying on a mistake of fact that vitiates such elections.

We agreed with respondent. We found that the statements attached to the returns contained substantially all of the elements necessary to constitute valid elections. We also determined that because the objective evidence clearly demonstrated that petitioner made the elections, the evidence of petitioner's intent in signing the statements was irrelevant. Finally, we concluded that the elections had not been*126 based upon a mistake of fact but were based on misapplication of tax law. As a result, we granted respondent's motion for partial summary judgment and denied petitioner's cross-motion for partial summary judgment. Powers v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1986-494.

On December 12, 1991, we filed our Opinion in Plumb v. Commissioner, 97 T.C. 632 (1991). In that case, we held that statements attached to the taxpayers' returns were not valid elections under section 172(b)(3)(C) and the taxpayers were required to carry back their net operating losses for the years at issue. Id. at 641. The statements notified respondent that "Taxpayers elect to forego [sic] the carryback period for the regular NOL in accordance with section 172(b)(3)(C) and will carry forward this NOL." Id. at 633. Thus, the taxpayers attempted to make split elections, carrying forward their regular net operating losses and carrying back their alternative minimum tax net operating losses. However, we determined that section 172(b)(3)(C) only provides for one election, and a split election is*127 not permitted under that section. Id. at 638.

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Bluebook (online)
1993 T.C. Memo. 125, 65 T.C.M. 2214, 1993 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/powers-v-commissioner-tax-1993.