Vulcan Oil Tech. Partners v. Commissioner

110 T.C. No. 15, 110 T.C. 153, 1998 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 14
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMarch 5, 1998
DocketTax Ct. Dkt. No. 21530-87; Docket Nos. 24725-89, 16768-88
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 110 T.C. No. 15 (Vulcan Oil Tech. Partners v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vulcan Oil Tech. Partners v. Commissioner, 110 T.C. No. 15, 110 T.C. 153, 1998 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 14 (tax 1998).

Opinion

OPINION

Swift, Judge:

This matter is before the Court in these consolidated cases on movants’ motions, under the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (tefra), Pub. L. 97-248, 96 Stat. 324, partnership provisions and under Rule 245(b),2 for leave to file untimely notices of election to participate with attached notices of election to participate, and motions, under Rule 50, to set aside settlement agreements and/or to require respondent now to enter into consistent settlement agreements. An evidentiary hearing was held on May 21, 1997, in regard to these motions.

The particular years before us in these consolidated cases are 1983, 1984, and 1985 — years subject to the TEFRA partnership provisions. In Estate of Campion v. Commissioner, 110 T.C. 165 (1998), with regard to years prior to the effective date of the TEFRA partnership provisions, other investors in the Elektra Hemisphere tax shelters have filed motions similar to the instant motions. Our opinion in Estate of Cam-pion is also filed this date.

The underlying tax shelter investments that are involved in these consolidated cases constitute investments in seven Denver-based limited partnerships and are related to the so-called Elektra Hemisphere tax shelter investments that were the subject of litigation in this Court in Krause v. Commissioner, 99 T.C. 132 (1992), affd. sub nom. Hildebrand v. Commissioner, 28 F.3d 1024 (10th Cir. 1994); Acierno v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1997-441; Karlsson v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1997-432; and Vanderschraaf v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1997-306.

In Acierno v. Commissioner, supra, we found that the Denver-based partnerships that are involved in the instant cases were similar to the Manhattan and Wichita partnerships that were involved in the lead test cases in the Elektra Hemisphere tax shelter project of Krause v. Commissioner, supra, and accordingly that the limited partners of the Denver-based partnerships who had not settled their cases with respondent were to be bound by the opinion in Krause. The settlements that most of the movants herein entered into, during 1994 and later years, are consistent with our decisions in Krause and the above-cited related cases (namely, no deductions are to be allowed to the taxpayers relating to their investments in the Elektra Hemisphere tax shelters, and the taxpayers are not to be held liable for additions to tax or penalties other than increased interest under section 6621(c) or its predecessor section 6621(d)) (hereinafter referred to as the no-cash settlements).

On an untimely basis, the majority of the movants herein now seek permission from the Court to file notices of election to participate in the instant TEFRA partnership proceedings for the purpose of seeking an order from the Court that would set aside the no-cash settlement agreements that they entered into and that would require respondent to enter into revised settlement agreements with movants consistent with the more favorable settlement terms that were available generally to investors in the Elektra Hemisphere tax shelters during 1986, 1987, and 1988 (namely, tax deductions were allowed for the amount of cash that investors had invested in the Elektra Hemisphere tax shelters, and no additions to tax or penalties were imposed other than increased interest under section 6621(c) or its predecessor section 6621(d)) (hereinafter referred to as the cash settlements).

The remaining movants herein have not yet entered into any settlement agreements with respondent relating to tax benefits movants claimed on their Federal income tax returns relating to their Elektra Hemisphere tax shelter investments. Such movants seek from the Court an order that would require respondent to now enter into settlement agreements with them consistent with the cash settlements that were available generally to investors in the Elektra Hemisphere tax shelters during 1986, 1987, and 1988.

All of the movants herein seek permission from the Court to file notices of election to participate in the instant TEFRA partnership proceedings solely for purposes of obtaining from the Court an order requiring respondent to enter into settlements with them consistent with the terms of the cash settlements.

Beginning in 1986, respondent’s settlement position with regard to investments in the Elektra Hemisphere tax shelters reflected the cash settlement terms to which many investors, during 1986, 1987, and 1988, agreed, including many investors who had invested in the seven Denver-based Elektra Hemisphere partnerships. Over the years, however, respondent’s settlement position relating to the Elektra Hemisphere tax shelters has changed, and terms of the settlement offers that respondent has made available to investors have changed accordingly. As time progressed and as the Krause v. Commissioner, supra, lead test cases approached trial, respondent’s settlement position generally became less favorable to investors and more favorable to respondent. Each of respondent’s various settlement positions contained time deadlines or termination dates beyond which a particular settlement position would no longer be available to investors.

As indicated, after the opinion in Krause v. Commissioner, supra, was rendered by this Court, many of the movants herein agreed to settle on the basis of respondent’s then-pending no-cash settlement position.

In the instant motions, movants allege that a structural defect or a fraud on the Court occurred in obtaining from movants the above-referenced no-cash settlements and that respondent had, and has, under the tefra partnership provisions, a continuing duty of consistency to treat all investors in the Elektra Hemisphere tax shelters consistently and to affirmatively now make available to all investors the most favorable settlement terms that ever were offered to any of the investors.

More specifically, movants allege—

(1) that the no-cash settlements that were agreed to by movants herein during 1994 and later years were premised on the erroneous fact that no better settlements were available to investors;
(2) that during 1994 and later years, when the no-cash settlements that movants now seek to set aside were entered into, movants and their counsel allegedly were not aware of the prior more favorable cash settlements that other taxpayers had entered into during 1986, 1987, and 1988; and
(3) that under the TEFRA partnership provisions movants herein, during 1994 and later years, should have been and should now be allowed to settle their tax adjustments relating to their investments in the Elektra Hemisphere tax shelters consistently with the cash settlements offered in prior years.

Movants further allege the existence of “a pervasive and manufactured conspiracy” among respondent’s counsel to deprive movants herein and other taxpayers of proper TEFRA partnership settlement procedures. Movants contend that the allegedly defective settlement procedures respondent utilized in obtaining settlements with movants herein affected thousands of investors in the Elektra Hemisphere tax shelters.

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Vulcan Oil Tech. Partners v. Commissioner
110 T.C. No. 15 (U.S. Tax Court, 1998)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
110 T.C. No. 15, 110 T.C. 153, 1998 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 14, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vulcan-oil-tech-partners-v-commissioner-tax-1998.