Quiroz v. Michigan, Department of Treasury

472 B.R. 434, 2012 WL 1005210, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41342
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedMarch 27, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 11-CV-12672; Bankruptcy No. 11-04433
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 472 B.R. 434 (Quiroz v. Michigan, Department of Treasury) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Quiroz v. Michigan, Department of Treasury, 472 B.R. 434, 2012 WL 1005210, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41342 (E.D. Mich. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER AFFIRMING THE ORDER OF THE BANKRUPTCY COURT GRANTING AP-PELLEE’S MOTION TO DISMISS

MARK A. GOLDSMITH, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This is a bankruptcy appeal. The sole issue is whether a corporation’s unpaid Michigan single business tax (“SBT”), for which Appellant Juan A. Quiroz is liable as the responsible corporate official, is non-dischargeable under 11 U.S.C. §§ 507(a)(8)(E) and 523(a)(1)(A). The Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan determined that the obligation is not dischargeable. For the reasons that follow, the Court agrees and, accordingly, affirms the Bankruptcy Court’s order granting the motion of Appellee Michigan Department of Treasury to dismiss the adversary proceeding.

II. BACKGROUND

The relevant facts are undisputed. Qui-roz was the sole owner of Industrial Waste Cleanup, Inc. (“IWC”) and a corporate officer with responsibility for the tax filings and tax payments of the company.1 IWC ceased operating in 2006, at which time it [436]*436owed the State of Michigan approximately $25,450 in unpaid SBT for the years 2005 and 2006.

In 2008, Quiroz and his wife filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code and were granted a discharge under that Chapter. Despite the discharge order, the Michigan Department of Treasury sought to collect from Quiroz, personally, IWC’s unpaid SBT under a Michigan statute that renders corporate officers and other business-entity officials with control over tax filings and tax payments personally liable for unpaid state taxes in the event they are not paid by the business-entity taxpayer. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 205.27a(5). Insisting that his liability for the unpaid SBT was discharged in bankruptcy, Quiroz filed an adversary proceeding in the Bankruptcy Court for a determination of that issue. The Michigan Department of Treasury filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the SBT qualifies as an excise tax that is excepted from the priority listing of taxes in § 507(a)(8)(E)(i) and thus not dischargea-ble under § 523(a)(1)(A). The Bankruptcy Court agreed and granted the motion. Quiroz appeals.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The Bankruptcy Court’s findings of fact are reviewed for clear error; its conclusions of law are reviewed de novo. In re United Producers, Inc., 526 F.3d 942, 946 (6th Cir.2008). Because the issue in this case is one of statutory construction, the Court reviews the matter de novo. United States v. Plavcak, 411 F.3d 655, 660 (6th Cir.2005).

IV. ANALYSIS

Quiroz asserts two arguments in support of reversal. The first is that the SBT does not satisfy the requirements of § 507(a)(8)(E)© because, according to Qui-roz, only an excise tax on a particular transaction comes within that provision, and the SBT is not a tax traceable to a particular transaction. Second, Quiroz argues that even if the SBT meets the requirements of that provision as to IWC, his obligation is nonetheless dischargeable, on the theory that only a tax liability for which the debtor is principally liable — and here Quiroz is only derivatively liable — is nondischargeable. The Court addresses both arguments, in turn.

A. “On A Transaction”

The Bankruptcy Code excepts from the discharge of an individual debtor “any debt ... for a tax ... of the kind and for the periods specified in section ... 507(a)(8).” 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1)(A). Section 507(a)(8) lists various claims of governmental units, including the following pertinent language:

[A]llowed unsecured claims of governmental units, only to the extent that such claims are for — ■
(E) an excise tax on—
(i) a transaction occurring before the date of the filing of the petition for which a return, if required, is last due, under applicable law or under any extension, after three years before the date of the filing of the petition; or
(ii) if a return is not required, a transaction occurring during the three years immediately preceding the date of the filing of the petition.

11 U.S.C. § 507(a)(8)(E).

Quiroz does not dispute in his appeal that the SBT is an “excise tax,” nor could he. While the Bankruptcy Code does not define the term, case law has recognized its broad scope, as confirmed by the following expansive definition adopted by numerous courts:

A tax imposed on the performance of an act, the engaging in an occupation, or [437]*437the enjoyment of a privilege. A tax on the manufacture, sale, or use of goods or on the carrying on of an occupation or activity, or a tax on the transfer of property. In current usage the term has been extended to include various license fees and practically every internal revenue tax except the income tax.

Black’s Law Dictionary 563 (6th ed. 1990). See In re National Steel Corp., 321 B.R. 901, 908 (Bankr.N.D.Ill.2005) (collecting cases).

Michigan’s SBT meets this definition of an “excise” tax because it is an indirect tax based on business activity — a tax that the United States Supreme Court has characterized as a value-added tax. Trinova Corp. v. Mich. Dep’t of Treasury, 498 U.S. 358, 362, 111 S.Ct. 818, 112 L.Ed.2d 884 (1991). In Trinova, the Supreme Court explained the operation of the tax in the course of finding that it did not offend the Constitution’s Due Process Clause or Commerce Clause. The Court observed that the tax is triggered by “business activity,” broadly defined as any “transfer of ... property ... or the performance of services,” Mich. Comp. Laws § 208.3, and levied on a tax base consisting generally of the costs of labor + depreciation + interest + profit, subject to a multitude of adjustments. 498 U.S. at 367, 111 S.Ct. 818. In this case, the parties do not dispute that such a tax constitutes an indirect tax and qualifies as an “excise tax” within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Code.

Where the parties disagree is over the significance in the statute of the phrase “on a transaction.” Quiroz argues that the phrase “on a transaction” evinces a Congressional intent to “directly tie[ ] the tax to a specific transaction.” Appellant’s Br. at 11 (emphasis in original). Quiroz contends that the SBT does not tax any particular transaction, but rather combines unrelated activities — such as federal income tax liability, capital cost adjustments, compensation and a variety of deductions and exemptions — so that “not even a series of transactions ... are being taxed.” Id. at 11-12.

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472 B.R. 434, 2012 WL 1005210, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/quiroz-v-michigan-department-of-treasury-mied-2012.