Vitaly Baturin v. Commissioner, Internal Revenue

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedApril 6, 2022
Docket20-1648
StatusPublished

This text of Vitaly Baturin v. Commissioner, Internal Revenue (Vitaly Baturin v. Commissioner, Internal Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vitaly Baturin v. Commissioner, Internal Revenue, (4th Cir. 2022).

Opinion

USCA4 Appeal: 20-1648 Doc: 73 Filed: 04/06/2022 Pg: 1 of 16

PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 20-1648

VITALY NIKOLAEVICH BATURIN,

Petitioner – Appellee,

v.

COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE,

Respondent – Appellant.

------------------------------

AARON Z. ROPER,

Court-Assigned Amicus Counsel.

Appeal from the United States Tax Court. (Tax Ct. No. 014796-14)

Argued: March 8, 2022 Decided: April 6, 2022

Before MOTZ and DIAZ, Circuit Judges, and KEENAN, Senior Circuit Judge.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge Motz wrote the opinion, in which Judge Diaz and Senior Judge Keenan joined.

ARGUED: Ivan C. Dale, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Aaron Z. Roper, WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY LLP, Washington, D.C., for Court-Assigned Amicus Counsel. Vitaly Nikolaevich Baturin, Appellee Pro Se. USCA4 Appeal: 20-1648 Doc: 73 Filed: 04/06/2022 Pg: 2 of 16

ON BRIEF: David A. Hubbert, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Joan I. Oppenheimer, Tax Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellant.

2 USCA4 Appeal: 20-1648 Doc: 73 Filed: 04/06/2022 Pg: 3 of 16

DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ, Circuit Judge:

The Tax Court held that payments to a Russian scientist working in the United States

were exempt from taxation under the United States-Russia Tax Treaty. 1 In doing so, the

Tax Court misunderstood the basis of the Treaty’s distinction between a tax-exempt “grant,

allowance, or other similar payments” and taxable “salaries, wages, and other similar

remuneration.” For this reason, we reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent

with this opinion.

I.

In 2010 and 2011 (the two years at issue here), Dr. Vitaly Baturin, a Russian national

and physicist, worked at Jefferson Lab, a Department of Energy facility in Newport News,

Virginia. Jefferson Lab operates a particle accelerator, which smashes particles together

to help researchers learn about the structure of the universe. Dr. Baturin’s work involved

a detector that would better enable researchers to see what happens at the sub-atomic level

inside the accelerator.

During this period, Dr. Baturin held a J-1 exchange visitor visa as a researcher

sponsored by Jefferson Lab. He received W-2s from Jefferson Lab that reflected income

of $76,729 and $79,061, in 2010 and 2011, respectively, for “wages, tips, [or] other

comp[ensation].” He filed 1040-NR (nonresident) forms with the IRS, which claimed an

1 The Treaty’s full title is the “Convention Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention off Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital.” See June 17, 1992, T.I.A.S. No. 93-1216; S. Treaty Doc. No. 102-39. The United States signed the Treaty in 1992 and the Senate ratified it in 1993, shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. 3 USCA4 Appeal: 20-1648 Doc: 73 Filed: 04/06/2022 Pg: 4 of 16

exemption as to the entire amount he earned from Jefferson Lab each year pursuant to the

United States-Russia Tax Treaty. In 2014, the IRS issued Dr. Baturin a Notice of

Deficiency, stating that he owed a total of $22,229 in income taxes on his payments from

Jefferson Lab for 2010 and 2011. After some administrative discussions, Dr. Baturin pro

se petitioned the Tax Court, arguing that the Treaty exempted his income from taxation.

The Tax Court agreed with Dr. Baturin, holding that the Treaty shielded from

taxation his entire income in 2010 and 2011 as “a grant, allowance, or similar payments.”

The Tax Court rejected the argument of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue that wages

are categorically ineligible for exemption from taxation under the Treaty, reasoning that

“wages may be eligible for exemption so long as they are similar to a grant or allowance.”

Tax Ct. Op. at 19.

The Commissioner then noted this appeal, over which we have jurisdiction pursuant

to I.R.C. § 7482(a)(1). 2 “Decisions of the tax court are subject on appeal to the same

standard we apply to civil bench trials on appeal from the district courts. Under this

standard, we review factual findings for clear error, legal questions de novo, and mixed

questions of law and fact de novo.” QinetiQ US Holdings, Inc. v. Comm’r, 845 F.3d 555,

562 (4th Cir. 2017) (internal citations omitted). “Interpretation of an international treaty is

an issue of law subject to de novo review.” United States v. Al-Hamdi, 356 F.3d 564, 569

(4th Cir. 2004). And “[t]he general rule . . . is that a taxpayer claiming immunity from a

We appointed amicus counsel to argue in support of the Tax Court’s decision. 2

Amicus provided an excellent brief and argument, which we very much appreciate. 4 USCA4 Appeal: 20-1648 Doc: 73 Filed: 04/06/2022 Pg: 5 of 16

tax has the burden of establishing his exemption.” Norton Co. v. Dep’t of Rev., 340 U.S.

534, 537 (1951).

II.

Ordinarily, any income that a nonresident alien receives for personal services in the

United States is taxable in this country. See I.R.C. §§ 864(b)(1); 872(a). However, “[t]he

provisions of [the tax code] shall be applied to any taxpayer with due regard to any treaty

obligation of the United States which applies to such taxpayer.” Id. § 894(a)(1). Thus, to

resolve the case at hand, we must consider the United States-Russia Tax Treaty.

“The interpretation of a treaty, like the interpretation of a statute, begins with its

text.” Medellín v. Texas, 552 U.S. 491, 506 (2008). Two articles of that Treaty are

particularly relevant here. On the one hand, Article 14 of the Treaty provides:

Subject to the provisions of Articles 15 (Directors’ Fees), 16 (Government Service), and 17 (Pensions), salaries, wages, and other similar remuneration derived by a resident of a Contracting State [i.e., the United States or Russia] in respect of an employment shall be taxable only in that State unless the employment is exercised in the other Contracting State. If the employment is so exercised, such remuneration as is derived therefrom may be taxed in that other State.

Art. 14(1) (emphasis added). On the other hand, Article 18 provides:

An individual who is a resident of a Contracting State at the beginning of his visit to the other Contracting State and who is temporarily present in that other State for the primary purpose of: . . . (c) studying or doing research as a recipient of a grant, allowance, or other similar payments from a . . . scientific . . . organization, shall be exempt from tax by that other State . . . with respect to the grant, allowance, or other similar payments.

5 USCA4 Appeal: 20-1648 Doc: 73 Filed: 04/06/2022 Pg: 6 of 16

Art. 18(1). 3

The text of the Treaty does not define what differentiates “salaries, wages, and other

similar remuneration” in Article 14 from a “grant, allowance, or other similar payments”

in Article 18. But the text does tell us that these categories are mutually exclusive, given

the simple fact that one is taxable and the other is not.

The legislative history of the Treaty’s ratification reinforces our conclusion that

salaries and grants are exclusive categories.

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279 U.S. 47 (Supreme Court, 1929)
Norton Co. v. Department of Revenue of Ill.
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