Shell Oil Co. v. Department of Revenue

496 So. 2d 789, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 185, 1986 Fla. LEXIS 2062
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedApril 24, 1986
Docket66240, 66254
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 496 So. 2d 789 (Shell Oil Co. v. Department of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shell Oil Co. v. Department of Revenue, 496 So. 2d 789, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 185, 1986 Fla. LEXIS 2062 (Fla. 1986).

Opinion

496 So.2d 789 (1986)

SHELL OIL COMPANY, Petitioner,
v.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, Respondent.

Nos. 66240, 66254.

Supreme Court of Florida.

April 24, 1986.
Rehearing Denied November 24, 1986.

Arthur J. England, Jr. and Sandra S. Barker of Fine Jacobson, Schwartz, Nash, Block and England, Miami, and William D. Peltz, Senior Tax Counsel and Elizabeth C. Burton, Tax Atty., Shell Oil Co., Houston, Tex., for petitioner.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Joseph C. Mellichamp, III, and Sharon A. Zahner, Asst. Attys. Gen., Tallahassee, for respondent.

McDONALD, Justice.

The First District Court of Appeal has certified the following question as one of great public importance:

Whether the State of Florida is prohibited by U.S.C. § 1333(a)(2)(A) [sic] from imposing a tax upon income derived from the sale in the United States of oil extracted from the outer Continental Shelf?

Shell Oil Co. v. Department of Revenue, 461 So.2d 959, 963 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).[1] This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(4), Florida Constitution. We answer the certified question in the negative, approving in part and quashing in part the opinion of the district court.

*790 Shell Oil, a Delaware corporation, conducts business throughout the United States. Among its many activities, Shell operates a number of drilling platforms for the extraction of crude oil and natural gas from the outer continental shelf (OCS). Shell makes all transfers of OCS natural gas by sale to nonaffiliated independent pipeline companies that rent space on Shell's platforms. In the case of crude oil, Shell makes some transfers by sale to independent third parties, but Shell delivers most of the oil to its own pipeline for transport to shore. Shell treats all transfers, whether to third parties or to the pipeline, as taxable events for federal income tax purposes. Shell, however, excludes such earnings from its taxable income for Florida income tax purposes. The company determines the revenue which the transfers generate based on the fair market value of crude oil at the wellhead less related expenses. Most of the oil extracted from the OCS wells is refined and sold in the United States.

The Florida Department of Revenue (DOR) disallowed Shell's exclusion of certain OCS production income from its Florida tax base for fiscal years 1972-75. The trial court agreed with DOR as to the exclusion. The court, however, ruled that Shell could include its intangible drilling costs (IDCs) in the property factor of Florida's tax apportionment formula. Both parties appealed, and the district court affirmed the trial court as to both issues. On rehearing, however, the district court certified the instant question to this Court. Following certification, both parties independently petitioned this Court for review. These petitions have been consolidated for purposes of the case at bar.

Section 1333(a)(2) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act states that state taxation laws shall not apply to the outer continental shelf. 43 U.S.C. § 1333(a)(2) (1970). Neither DOR nor Shell Oil disputes this, and both parties agree that the oil production in question is derived from the OCS. Further, DOR concedes that any revenues which Shell derives from actual sales consummated on the OCS oil platforms are beyond the reach of Florida's taxing power as limited by section 1333(a)(2). Accordingly, the dispute concerns only the income derived from sales of OCS oil actually made within the boundaries of the fifty states.

DOR contends that because Shell sold the oil within the boundaries of the fifty states, and not on the OCS, the taxable event occurred within the reach of Florida's tax laws. On the other hand, Shell contends that the time and location of the actual sale are irrelevant because no sale of OCS production can ever be subject to state taxation. Shell claims that section 1333(a)(3) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act supports this contention. Section 1333(a)(3) reads:

The provisions of this section for adoption of State law as the law of the United States shall never be interpreted as a basis for claiming any interest in or jurisdiction on behalf of any State for any purpose over the seabed and subsoil of the outer Continental Shelf, or the property and natural resources thereof or the revenues therefrom.

We find that Shell's reliance on section 1333(a)(3) is misplaced. Although section 1333(a)(3) prevents states from claiming an interest in or jurisdiction over the revenues derived from OCS natural resources, the language of this subsection when read in conjunction with the rest of section 1333(a) simply constitutes a limitation of state authority over the OCS area and does not seem intended to address income derived outside the OCS.[2]

Income is normally taxed when realized. Helvering v. Horst, 311 U.S. 112, 61 S.Ct. 144, 85 L.Ed. 75 (1940); § 220.02(4)(a), Fla. Stat. (Supp. 1972). Realization occurs when a taxpayer receives actual economic *791 gain from the disposition of property. Helvering, 311 U.S. at 115, 61 S.Ct. at 146; S.R.G. Corp. v. Department of Revenue, 365 So.2d 687 (Fla. 1978); Heftler Construction Co. v. Florida Department of Revenue, 438 So.2d 139 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983), review denied, 449 So.2d 264 (Fla. 1984). In the case at bar, this realization occurred at the time of sale. Clearly, no realization of income occurred at the wellhead, despite Shell's assignment of an artificial wellhead price to the oil, because Shell received no actual economic gain from any "sale, exchange, or other disposition of property" at that point. § 220.02(4)(a). Rather, realization occurred at the time Shell sold the oil in the states because only at that time did Shell derive any actual economic gain.

Shell insists that all OCS production should be excepted from the general rule that the time of realization is the proper time for judging the taxable nature of income. Yet the cases Shell cites for the proposition that the instant transactions lie beyond the taxable reach of DOR are distinguishable. In both Ramah Navajo School Board, Inc. v. Bureau of Revenue of New Mexico, 458 U.S. 832, 102 S.Ct. 3394, 73 L.Ed.2d 1174 (1982), and James v. Dravco Construction Co., 302 U.S. 134, 58 S.Ct. 208, 82 L.Ed. 155 (1937), the income was realized beyond the respective state's taxing jurisdiction. In the instant case Shell realized the income within the fifty states and both parties agree that Florida can generally levy an apportioned tax on income derived within any of the fifty states. Thus Shell has offered no relevant authority for its claim that OCS production sold in the states should be an exception to the norm. As the district court pointed out, taking Shell's argument to its logical conclusion, no state could impose any kind of tax on any final product which eventually might be derived from OCS production. We join the district court in finding that Congress never intended such a sweeping result when it passed the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Therefore, we approve the district court's opinion as it relates to the certified question, which we answer in the negative.

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496 So. 2d 789, 11 Fla. L. Weekly 185, 1986 Fla. LEXIS 2062, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shell-oil-co-v-department-of-revenue-fla-1986.