Radioshack Corp. v. United States

105 Fed. Cl. 617, 110 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5039, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 749, 2012 WL 2512922
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedJune 29, 2012
DocketNo. 06-28T
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 105 Fed. Cl. 617 (Radioshack Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Radioshack Corp. v. United States, 105 Fed. Cl. 617, 110 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5039, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 749, 2012 WL 2512922 (uscfc 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S THIRD MOTION FOR CLASS CERTIFICATION

WILLIAMS, Judge.

In this action Plaintiff seeks a refund of communications excise taxes. This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs third motion to certify a class of similarly situated taxpayers. Because the Court lacks jurisdiction over the tax refund claims of putative class members, and because RadioShack fails to satisfy the requirements of Rule 23 of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”), Plaintiffs motion is denied.

Background1

Section 4251(a) of the Internal Revenue Code imposes an excise tax on amounts paid for communication services, including long-distance calls that are charged on the basis of both distance and duration. Carriers collect the tax from consumers, pay the tax to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), and file a corresponding tax return.

In the 1990s, carriers stopped using distance to price long-distance calls and began charging per-minute rates. The IRS continued to assess the excise tax during this period, a practice that several courts eventually held was improper. See, e.g., Fortis, Inc. v. United States, 447 F.3d 190 (2d Cir.2006); Reese Bros., Inc. v. United States, 447 F.3d 229 (3d Cir.2006); Am. Bankers Ins. Group v. United States, 408 F.3d 1328 (11th Cir. 2005); OfficeMax, Inc. v. United States, 428 F.3d 583 (6th Cir.2005); Nat’l R.R. Passenger Corp. v. United States, 431 F.3d 374 (D.C.Cir.2005).

In June 2006, the IRS issued Notice 2006-50, 2006-1 C.B. 1141, admitting that the IRS had improperly collected excise taxes and instructed earners to cease collecting and paying the tax paid on time-only long-distance service billed after July 31, 2006. Notice 2006-50 authorized taxpayers to request a credit or refund on their 2006 federal income tax returns for excise taxes paid on services billed after February 28, 2003, and before August 1, 2006. On January 29, 2007, the IRS issued Notice 2007-11, 2007-1 C.B. 405, which supplemented Notice 2006-50 by clarifying the conditions that individual tax[620]*620payers were required to meet and answering questions that arose after Notice 2006-50 was issued.

Under the IRS’s procedures, taxpayers could request and obtain a refund on the 2006 income tax return or file an amended tax return for 2006. For individuals who were not required to file a 2006 income tax return, the IRS created Form 1040EZ-T for requesting a refund. Under this process, which will remain in effect until July 27, 2012, to request a credit or refund for the actual amount of excise tax paid, taxpayers must complete Form 8913, Credit for Federal Telephone Excise Tax Paid, and attach that form to their 2006 Form 1040 Series federal income tax return or to an amended tax return for that year.

The excise taxes at issue had been collected by telephone companies and paid directly to the IRS, leaving many taxpayers without the documentation necessary to claim a refund. The IRS therefore created a “safe harbor” for these taxpayers. To receive the safe-harbor standard amount, a taxpayer must demonstrate that he paid all taxes billed by the service provider during the relevant period, and that he had not received, requested, or filed a claim for the credit or refund. The standard amount for individuals ranges from $30 to $60, with an interest component governed by 26 U.S.C. § 6611. Businesses and other entities can also present minimal documentation to claim a safe-harbor refund based on an estimate of the taxes actually paid during the refund period. To calculate the refund amount, businesses must submit two monthly telephone bills from 2006 (rather than a bill for each month during the entire relevant period).

The IRS implemented an outreach strategy to notify taxpayers of this administrative refund mechanism. As part of this strategy, the IRS issued at least 22 news releases and eight internet publications entitled “Tax Tips,” and disseminated refund information via more than 4,000 articles and interviews in magazines and various media outlets, eollec-tively estimated to reach over 88 million readers. The IRS also launched a website that explains how to obtain a refund, which millions of taxpayers have viewed. A similar explanation was incorporated into the “What’s New” section of the 2007 Instructions for IRS Tax Forms 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ. The IRS also partnered with software developers to ensure that popular tax preparation products, such as TurboTax and TaxCut, included information regarding the refund. Finally, the IRS collaborated with 65 national partners and more than 300 community-based coalitions to raise awareness of the refund. By April 26, 2012, these efforts had generated refunds of approximately $4.33 billion to roughly 100,168,030 million individual taxpayers, and of over $1.45 billion to 809,354 businesses. Approximately $7.21 billion in erroneously collected excise taxes, however, has not been refunded.2

On Api’il 5, 2012, the IRS released Announcement 2012-16, 2012-18 I.R.B. 876, establishing a cutoff date of July 27, 2012, for requesting refunds. The Announcement states:

The Internal Revenue Service reminds and encourages taxpayers to timely request a Telephone Excise Tax Refund if they have not already done so. Since the Service stopped collecting the tax on long distance service in 2006, it has administered a simplified' procedure for taxpayers to request a refund of excise taxes paid under section 4251 on nontaxable services that were billed after February 28, 2003, and before August 1, 2006. Taxpayers have until July 27, 2012, to request refunds of the telephone excise tax.
Based on recent litigation, the validity of the notice that outlines the procedures under which a taxpayer may request a refund of telephone excise tax has been called into question. While the litigation continues, in the interest of providing certainty to taxpayers, if the taxpayer chooses to request a refund, the Internal Revenue Service will process and honor requests that are made [621]*621on or before July 27, 2012. Taxpayers should make their requests on the appropriate 2006 income tax return.

The Service will not process refund requests submitted after July 27,2012.3

On April 5, 2012, the Government released Announcement 2012-16, 2012-18 I.R.B., announcing that “[t]he Service will not process refund requests submitted after July 27, 2012.” Soon after, on April 10, 2012, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia held that the IRS failed to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act’s notice-and-comment procedures and prospectively vacated Notice 2006-60. In Re Long-Distance Telephone Service Federal Excise Tax Refund Litig., 863 F.Supp.2d 138 (D.D.C.2012). On May 1, 2012, this Court held a status conference to discuss the impact of those developments on this case.

Discussion

In its third motion for class certification, RadioShack moves the Court to certify the following class:

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105 Fed. Cl. 617, 110 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5039, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 749, 2012 WL 2512922, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/radioshack-corp-v-united-states-uscfc-2012.