Quaker State Oil Refining Corp. v. United States

28 Fed. Cl. 824
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedJune 2, 1993
DocketNo. 92-5162
StatusPublished

This text of 28 Fed. Cl. 824 (Quaker State Oil Refining Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Quaker State Oil Refining Corp. v. United States, 28 Fed. Cl. 824 (Fed. Cir. 1993).

Opinion

LOURIE, Circuit Judge.

Quaker State Oil Refining Corporation appeals from the judgment of the United States Claims Court1 granting (1) the government’s cross-motion for summary judgment on Quaker State’s claim for a refund of “windfall profit” taxes paid on first and second quarter earnings of 1983; (2) the government’s cross-motion for summary judgment on its counterclaim for windfall profit taxes assessed on third and fourth quarter earnings of 1983; and (3) the government’s cross-motion for partial summary judgment that the assessment of 1983 third-quarter windfall profit tax was timely. Quaker State Oil Refining Corp. v. United States, 24 Cl.Ct. 64 (1991). We affirm.

BACKGROUND

Quaker State is a producer and refiner of Pennsylvania grade crude oil and a distributor of refined petroleum products, most notably, motor oil. It sells its motor oil under the “QUAKER STATE” trademark in all 50 states, Mexico, Canada, and nearly 26 other foreign countries. In 1983, approximately 217 independent distributors sold QUAKER STATE motor oil under contract with Quaker State or its wholly-owned subsidiaries. The majority of the contracts involved Quaker State’s Oil City Division. Oil City sold motor oil, packaged in QUAKER STATE branded containers of 55-gallon capacity or less, for resale under a standard distributor agreement for 191 of its 192 domestic distributors. Sales of packaged motor oil pursuant to the agreements totaled $109,461,435 in 1983. A separate contract was used for Oil City’s largest distributor, Amoco Oil Company. Under that agreement, Oil City sold $36,942,824 in packaged motor oil and $7,458,455 in bulk motor oil to Amoco in 1983.

Quaker State filed its federal excise tax returns and windfall profit tax2 returns in 1983 on a quarterly basis. It reported and paid windfall profit taxes of $1,746,917.32 for the quarter ended March 31, 1983 and $1,595,004.80 for the quarter ended June 30, [826]*8261983. On September 30, 1983, Quaker State filed refund claims alleging overpayment of windfaE profit taxes of $885,481 and $1,051,-445 (plus interest) attributable to 1983 first and second quarter sales, respectively, of oE from its stripper well3 properties. It claimed that its earnings from such stripper weE oE were exempt from windfaE profit tax EabiEty under 26 U.S.C. § 4991(b)(6) (1982). The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) disallowed the claims. On AprE 18,1985, Quaker State filed a complaint in the United States Claims Court seeking a refund of $1,936,-926.00 in overpaid taxes for the first and second quarters of 1983.

Quaker State did not pay windfaE profit taxes on earnings from its production of oE from stripper weE property for the quarters ended September 30,1983 and December 31, 1983, claiming exemption from tax liabiEty under section 4991(b)(6). The IRS examined Quaker State’s 1983 third and fourth quarter windfaE profit tax returns and determined that Quaker State did not qualify as an “independent producer” within the meaning of 26 U.S.C. § 4992(b) (1982). On February 27, 1987, the IRS assessed tax deficiencies in the amounts of $1,077,977 and $1,167,674 (plus interest) for the third and fourth quarters of 1983, respectively. As Quaker State’s suit was already pending in the Claims Court, the government counterclaimed in the amount of the assessments.

At trial, Quaker State and the government filed cross-motions for summary judgment on Quaker State’s claim for a refund of the taxes paid on its 1983 first and second quarter earnings. Upon determining that no genuine issues of material fact existed, the Claims Court addressed the ultimate legal question whether Quaker State’s production of crude oE in 1983 qualified as exempt stripper weE oE under 26 U.S.C. § 4994(g) (1982), the sales of which would be insulated from windfaE profit tax EabEity under section 4991(b)(6). The trial court determined that the distributor agreements under which the oE was sold were “trademark contracts,” (i.e., sales contracts requiring the buyer’s use of the producer’s trademark in marketing and distributing the producer’s products), and held that Quaker State was therefore a re-taEer under 26 U.S.C. § 613A(d)(2). Thus, because Quaker State was not an independent producer for purposes of 26 U.S.C. § 4992(b)(1) (1982), a necessary predicate for exemption status for stripper weE oE under section 4994(g), the court granted summary judgment in favor of the government.

Both parties moved for partial summary judgment on the government’s counterclaim for the windfaE profit tax assessment for the third quarter of 1983. Quaker State argued that the three-year limitations period for assessment of such taxes under 26 U.S.C. § 6501 (1982) had expired and that the government’s counterclaim was barred. In ruling for the government, the court held that the appEcable statute of limitations was six years and that the government had timely assessed the 1983 third quarter windfaE profit tax.4

DISCUSSION

We review the Claims Court’s decision to grant summary judgment de novo. See Confederated Tribes v. United States, 964 F.2d 1102, 1107 (Fed.Cir.1992). Under that standard, we evaluate the correctness of the decision as a matter of law and decide de novo whether genuine issues of material fact exist. See Mingus Constructors, Inc. v. United States, 812 F.2d 1387, 1390 (Fed.Cir.1987). Resolution of the issues raised in this appeal turns on the proper interpretation of [827]*827the governing statutes, which we review de novo. See Commercial Energies, Inc. v. United States, 929 F.2d 682, 684 (Fed.Cir.1991). In view of the complex nature of the relevant statutory scheme, a brief examination of the statute is warranted, which will serve to place the issues in their proper legislative context.

The Statutory Scheme

Congress, concerned that oil producers and royalty owners stood to reap excessive profits attributable to both the deregulation of oil prices during 1979-81 and the possibility of further increases in world oil prices, imposed an excise tax on the production of domestic crude oil under the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act of 1980, Pub.L. No. 96-223, 94 Stat. 230 (codified as amended at 26 U.S.C. §§ 4986-98 (1982)).5 However, it exempted certain categories of oil producers it believed would not benefit from oil price decontrol or whose revenues would inure to the public benefit.

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Quaker State Oil Refining Corp. v. United States
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