Opinion ID: 657400
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Court of Federal Claims Cases

Text: This court's predecessor consistently applied the full payment rule with regard to the principal tax deficiency. Where the principal tax deficiency has not been paid in full, such tax refund claims are dismissed, regardless of any interest or penalty payments. Tonasket v. United States, 218 Ct.Cl. 709, 590 F.2d 343 (1978) (only $300 paid toward a $117,000 assessment of tax and penalties). 4 The Court of Federal Claims has also followed this rule. See Magee v. United States, 24 Cl.Ct. 511, 512 (1991) (where the taxpayer had fully paid the principal tax deficiency and penalty, but had not paid interest, the court held that payment of interest was not necessary to comply with the full payment rule); Cohen v. United States, 23 Cl.Ct. 717, 719 n. 3 (1991) (only full payment of the principal tax deficiency is necessary to maintain a suit, as long as the taxpayer raises no independent issues regarding interest); DiNatale v. United States, 12 Cl.Ct. 72, 72-74 (1987) (taxpayer made no payment against assessed tax, penalty, or interest deficiency); cf. Lambropoulos v. United States, 18 Cl.Ct. 235, 237 (1989) (taxpayer paid full amount of income tax deficiency, but did not pay interest and penalty; after stating that [u]npaid interest and penalty are treated the same as the underlying tax for jurisdictional purposes, the court dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction).