Shell Oil Co. v. Dept. of Revenue

461 So. 2d 959, 84 Oil & Gas Rep. 445, 9 Fla. L. Weekly 2315, 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 12584
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 3, 1984
DocketAS-159
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 461 So. 2d 959 (Shell Oil Co. v. Dept. of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal 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. Dept. of Revenue, 461 So. 2d 959, 84 Oil & Gas Rep. 445, 9 Fla. L. Weekly 2315, 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 12584 (Fla. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

461 So.2d 959 (1984)

SHELL OIL COMPANY, Appellant,
v.
Department of Revenue, Appellee.

No. AS-159.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

April 3, 1984.
Rehearing Denied November 6, 1984.

*960 Robert B. Glenn, Jr., of Glenn, Rasmussen, Fogarty & Merryday, Tampa, Elizabeth C. Burton, Houston, Tex., for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Thomas L. Barnhart, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.

SMITH, Judge.

Shell appeals from the trial court's final summary judgment holding, among other things, that the Department's treatment of Shell's income derived from the sale in the United States of oil from wells located on the outer continental shelf during the years from 1972 to 1975 does not violate the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), 43 U.S.C. § 1333(a)(2)A. The Department cross-appeals the trial court's finding that Shell may include all of the original costs" of its oil and gas wells, in particular its intangible drilling and development costs, in the property factor of the apportionment formula for determining its Florida corporate taxes, Section 214.71, Florida Statutes (1972). We affirm the final summary judgment in its entirety.

Shell's primary issue is apparently one of first impression in this state and elsewhere, namely, whether 43 U.S.C. § 1333 (a)(2)A,[1] infra, prohibits Florida from taxing its income from the sale in the United States of oil extracted from its outer continental shelf wells. We reject Shell's position that it does, for all of the oil from these wells was brought into the United States, refined in the United States, and then sold in the United States. Florida is thus assessing corporate income taxes on income derived from sales occurring in the United States, so the significant event for purposes of that tax is the sale of the oil, not the removal of the oil from the outer continental shelf. Taking Shell's argument to its logical conclusion, a state could not impose any tax, such as a sales tax, for any product it derives from its outer continental shelf wells. We cannot agree that an interpretation having such sweeping consequences was ever intended by the Congress, and we therefore reject it.

As a corollary argument Shell contends that Section 220.02(5), Florida Statutes,[2] requires the complete exclusion of income derived from outer continental shelf oil because including that income would cause a *961 conflict with a federal statute, in this case the OCSLA. We view this contention as nothing more than a restatement of Shell's first issue discussed above and therefore reject it.

Shell also argues that there should be a direct correlation between the income subject to the Florida corporate tax and the property, payroll and sales included in the apportionment formula, citing Heftler Construction v. Department of Revenue, 334 So.2d 129 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1976). Before analyzing this issue, however, a brief description of Florida's method of apportioning corporate taxes may be useful.

The income of a business, such as Shell, operating both within and without Florida, is apportioned to Florida in accordance with a three-factor formula. While the normal three-factor formula is the arithmetic average of three factors, a corporation's property, payroll, and sales, Florida's formula is double-weighted in favor of the sales factor. Each apportionment factor is therefore the ratio of Florida business activity (property, payroll, and sales) to "everywhere" business activity (property, payroll, and sales). Sections 214.71, and 220.15, Florida Statutes. "Everywhere" means "in all states of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any political subdivision of the foregoing." Section 220.15(3), Florida Statutes.

Shell excluded its outer continental shelf income from income apportionable to Florida by subtracting from its adjusted federal taxable income the wellhead fair market value of the oil recovered at its outer continental shelf drilling installations, less related expenses. It also excluded outer continental shelf real and tangible personal property from the denominator of the property factor, outer continental shelf payroll from the denominator of the payroll factor, and outer continental shelf sales from the denominator of the sales factor of the apportionment formula. It now urges, as it did before the trial court, that this process is justified by the Heftler decision. Shell further argues that the Department's inclusion of sales of oil derived from the outer continental shelf wells in the denominator of the sales factor is inconsistent with its exclusion of outer continental shelf property and payroll from the denominators of the property and payroll factors.

Addressing the latter contention first, we find that the Department properly computed Shell's sales, property, and payroll "everywhere" in the denominators of the sales, property, and payroll factors. "Everywhere" is defined by Section 220.15(3) to include "all states of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any political subdivision of the foregoing." The outer continental shelf, however, is not a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, or a political division thereof. Rather, it is a part of the United States, 43 U.S.C. § 1332 (a), Internal Revenue Code, § 638, so while the sales in the United States of oil derived from outer continental shelf wells occurred in the various states of the United States defined as "everywhere," outer continental shelf property and payroll do not come within the parameters of "everywhere," Section 220.15(3), and thus cannot be included in the denominators of the property and payroll factors.

We likewise reject Shell's contention that Heftler mandates a direct correlation between the income subject to tax in Florida and the property, payroll, and sales included in the apportionment formula. Simply stated, the profits and losses involved in Heftler were earned in Puerto Rico and were therefore considered foreign, while the income in Shell's case was realized totally from sales of oil in the various states of the United States.

We also must reject the Department's argument on cross-appeal to the effect that Shell should not be allowed to include drilling and development costs in the property factor in the apportionment formula. Property, both real and tangible, is to be valued at original cost, Section 214.71(1), and the Department has defined "original cost" as follows:

As a general rule "original cost" is deemed to be the basis of the property *962 for federal income tax purposes (prior to any federal adjustments) at the time of acquisition by the taxpayer and adjusted by subsequent capital additions or improvements thereto and partial disposition thereof, by reason of sale, exchange or abandonment, etc.

Florida Administrative Code Rule 12C-1.15(4)(b)5. Relying on this rule, the Department urges that Shell's intangible drilling and development expenditures have no recognizable cost or other basis sufficient to permit the inclusion of those costs in the property factor because they have been deducted by Shell for federal income tax purposes in accordance with Section 263(c) of the Internal Revenue Code.

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461 So. 2d 959, 84 Oil & Gas Rep. 445, 9 Fla. L. Weekly 2315, 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 12584, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shell-oil-co-v-dept-of-revenue-fladistctapp-1984.