Woods v. Robinson

256 So. 3d 409
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 19, 2018
DocketNO. 18-CA-145; 18-CA-146
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 256 So. 3d 409 (Woods v. Robinson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woods v. Robinson, 256 So. 3d 409 (La. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

WICKER, J.

These consolidated cases arise out of a dispute involving the Alternative Fuel Tax Credit, wherein the Department of Revenue is appealing the Board of Tax Appeal's judgment overruling an Exception of No Right of Action and granting two refunds totaling $710,402, plus interest. For the following reasons, we affirm the Board of Tax Appeal's judgment.

Procedural Background

On August 2, 2016, petitioners, Glenn H. Woods and Jimmie M. Woods, each filed a Petition to Review Denial of Refund/Credit and Alternatively for a Claim Against the State. The petitioners, each fifty percent owners of Metro Service Group, Inc. (Metro), prayed that the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals (the Board) determine that they have a refundable overpayment/credit in the amount of $344,661 each and that the Board order the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Revenue (the Department) to pay the refunds to them with interest. The petitioners prayed, alternatively, that the Board award claims against the State to each of them in the amount of $344,661 of Louisiana individual income tax paid and recommend to the next session of the Legislature that these claims are approved and should be paid.

On January 31, 2017, the Department filed an Exception of Improper Cumulation of Actions and Answer in each case, responding, in part, that the Alternative Fuel Tax Credit/refund had already been issued to Metro. On May 1, 2017, the Department filed an Exception of No Right of Action, arguing, inter alia , that the petitioners did not have a right to claim this credit as the credit had been previously claimed and issued to another *412taxpayer. On May 9, 2017, the Board conducted a hearing, taking the matter under advisement thereafter.

On November 7, 2017, the Board issued a written judgment, along with written Reasons for Judgment, overruling the Department's Exception of No Right of Action and granting the refund claims of Glenn H. Woods and Jimmie M. Woods in the amount of $355,201 to each of them, for a total of $710,402, with interest. The Department, thereafter, filed a Motion for Appeal in each case that was granted. These cases were ultimately transferred from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal to this Court based on the recusal of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal judges and were consolidated.

Statement of the Case

The petitioners, Glenn H. Woods and Jimmie M. Woods, are brothers who each own fifty percent of Metro, a waste hauling business operating as an S corporation.1 The petitioners decided to convert to alternative fuel based on the Alternative Fuel Tax Credit (AFTC), a Louisiana tax incentive for businesses which convert their operations to run on compressed natural gas (CNG). Metro, thereafter, purchased twenty CNG-powered rear-loader waste hauling vehicles and constructed a CNG filling station to service the fleet. Metro originally claimed the credit in the amount of $1,044,524 on its 2012 Louisiana corporation income and franchise tax return for both the vehicles and an alternative fuel station. However, in a letter dated December 5, 2013, the Department denied $689,323 of the amount claimed and allowed the remainder of $355,201. Metro did not appeal the Department's partial denial of the credit.

On November 13, 2015, Metro filed an amended 2012 return, reducing the amount claimed from $1,044,524 to $355,201, which was the amount previously allowed. At the same time, the petitioners filed amended Louisiana individual income tax returns for the same period, each seeking a credit of $344,661, for a total of $689,322. In other words, Metro made an S corporation election to allow the credit to flow through to Metro's shareholders, the petitioners, in proportion to their ownership interests, and the petitioners then claimed the tax credit on their personal income tax returns. In letters to the petitioners dated June 8, 2016, the Department denied the refund/credit. The petitioners subsequently filed petitions asking the Board to review the denial of the refund/credit.

At the hearing on May 9, 2017, the Board severed the refund claim from the claim against the State, hearing the refund claim that day. The petitioners posited that they were entitled to the tax credit as they were within the three years for filing amended tax returns. The Department responded that the petitioners were not entitled to pass through the tax credit once the corporation failed to respond to the denial. In support of their position, the petitioners called Glenn Woods who testified that he invested approximately $7,000,000 in the CNG trucks and $1,300,000 in the fueling station, that they had to build a completely new fueling station, and that he was counting on receiving the tax credits to make it economically feasible. Mr. Woods explained that Entergy had to run new gas lines and electricity *413to the new fueling station to make it all work, and that all of the components were necessary to make the project work.

The petitioners introduced exhibits at the hearing, including Joint Exhibit 1, the original 2012 Metro tax return; Joint Exhibit 2, the refund denial/reduction letter; Joint Exhibit 3, the amended 2012 Metro tax return; Joint Exhibit 4, the amended tax return for Glenn H. Woods; Joint Exhibit 5, the amended tax return for Jimmie M. Woods; Taxpayer Exhibit 6, the memo associated with invoices and costs; and Taxpayer Exhibit 7, the fueling station costs. The Department called no witnesses and introduced no evidence in support of its position. The Board took the matter under advisement, after which it rendered judgment and provided reasons.

On November 7, 2017, the Board overruled the Department's Exception of No Right of Action and granted the refund claims in the amount of $355,201 to each petitioner, with interest. With regard to La. R.S. 47:6035, the Board stated in pertinent part:

The Secretary2 interprets the prefatory language in the first sentence of Subsection D, "where no previous credit has been claimed," as preclusive of Petitioners' claims because the credit was previously claimed by Metro. As an initial matter, Petitioners elected to claim the credit under Subsection C. Moreover, the Secretary's interpretation is not supported by the canons of statutory construction. Subsection D provides a means of calculating the appropriate amount of the credit in the event that the taxpayer elects not to claim the credit "pursuant to Subsection C ...." Under Subsection D, a taxpayer may claim the credit without determining the extra cost attributable to the subject property, but the amount of the credit is limited to "ten percent of the cost of the motor vehicle or three thousand dollars, whichever is less, provided the motor vehicle is registered in this state." On the other hand, a taxpayer who elects to claim the credit under Subsection C would be required to determine the cost of the qualified property, but would also be entitled to a more lucrative credit; "fifty percent of the cost of the qualified clean-burning motor vehicle fuel property." It would be illogical to permit the taxpayer to claim the fifty percent credit under Subsection C and then an additional ten percent credit under Subsection D. The purpose of the language quoted by the Secretary is to prevent the taxpayer from doing just that. Consequently, the Secretary's reliance on Subsection D is misplaced. (Footnote added).

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Bluebook (online)
256 So. 3d 409, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woods-v-robinson-lactapp-2018.