Source: http://www.chanrobles.com/usa/us_supremecourt/528/431/case.php
Timestamp: 2019-12-07 21:58:41
Document Index: 183793661

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 6511', '§ 6511', '§ 6511', '§ 6511', '§ 6511', '§ 6511', '§ 6513', '§ 6511', '§ 6012', '§ 6072', '§ 31', '§ 6511', '§ 6151', '§ 6213', '§ 6511', '§ 4', '§ 6401']

On the return, Baral claimed that he (and his employer on his behalf) had remitted $1,175 more with respect to the 1988 taxable year than he actually owed. Baral requested that the Service apply this excess as a credit toward his outstanding tax obligations for the 1989 taxable year. The Service denied the requested credit. It did not dispute that Baral had timely filed the request under the relevant filing deadline-"within 3 years from the time the return was filed or 2 years from the time the tax was paid, whichever of such periods expires the later." § 6511(a); see § 6511(b)(1). But the Service concluded that the claim exceeded the ceiling imposed by § 6511(b)(2)(A). That provision states that "the amount of the credit or refund shall not exceed the portion of the tax paid within the period, immediately preceding the filing of the claim, equal to 3 years plus the period of any extension of time for filing the return." Ibid.; see generally Commissioner v. Lundy, 516 U. S. 235, 240 (1996) (explaining that § 6511 contains two separate timeliness provisions: (1) § 6511(b)(1)'s filing deadline and (2) § 6511(b)(2)'s ceilings, which are defined by reference to that provision's "look-back period[s]"). Since Baral had filed his return on June 1, 1993, and had earlier received a 4-month extension from the initialcralaw
The parties renew before us the contentions advanced below. The Government submits that §§ 6513(b)(1) and (2) unequivocally provide that the two remittances at issue were "paid" on April 15, 1989, for purposes of § 6511(b)(2)(A), so that they precede the look-back period, which, as noted, commenced on February 1, 1990. Baral, on the other hand, urges that a tax cannot be "paid" within the meaning ofcralaw
Subsection (1) resolves when the remittance of withholding tax by Baral's employer was "paid": Since Baral is a calendar year taxpayer, the $4,104 withheld from his wages during the 1988 calendar year was "paid" on April 15, 1989. Subsection (2) determines when Baral's remittance of estimated income tax was "paid": Since the referenced § 6012 together with § 6072(a) requires that a calendar year taxpayer like Baral file his income tax return on the April 15th following the close of the calendar year, the $1,100 remitted as an estimated income tax in respect of Baral's 1988 tax liability wascralaw
We disagree. Withholding and estimated tax remittances are not taxes in their own right, but methods for collecting the income tax. Thus, § 31(a)(1) of the Code provides thatcralaw
Taking a more metaphysical tack, Baral contends that income tax is "paid" under § 6511(b)(2)(A) only when the income tax is assessed-here, June 1 or July 19, 1993, see supra, at 434-435-because the concept of payment makes sense only when the liability is "defined, known, and fixed by assessment," Brief for Petitioner 9. But the Code directly contradicts the notion that payment may not occur before assessment. See § 6151(a) ("[T]he person required to make [a return of tax] shall, without assessment or notice and demand from the Secretary, pay such tax ... at the time and place fixed for filing the return" (emphasis added)); § 6213(b)(4) ("Any amount paid as a tax or in respect of a tax may be assessed upon the receipt of such payment" (emphasis added)). Nor does Baral's argument find support in our decision in Rosenman v. United States, 323 U. S. 658 (1945), where we applied § 6511's predecessor to a remittance of esti-cralaw
1 Central to our analysis in this regard was a concern that the Service should not be able to treat the same remittance as a payment for statute of limitations purposes-disadvantaging the taxpayer by decreasing the time in which a refund claim could be filed-and as a deposit for purposes of accrual of interest on overpayments-disadvantaging the taxpayer by starting the accrual of interest only at assessment. Rosenman, 323 U. S., at 662-663. Indeed, we suggested that an amendment to the Code disapproving of the Service's treatment of remittances as deposits for interest purposes might change the analysis. Id., at 663 (citing Current Tax Payment Act of 1943, § 4(d), 57 Stat. 140) (presently codified at 26 U. S. C. § 6401(c)).cralaw