Opinion ID: 2995283
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: R.C. sec. 6512(b)

Text: We cannot read this provision as permitting the tax court to determine whether the $20,400 deposit ought to be attributed to Dr. Malachinski’s 1980 tax deficiency. First, sec. 6512(b) refers to overpayments, and, as we just held, with respect to the 1980 tax year, the remittance at issue here is a deposit and not a payment. Although the term overpayment is nowhere statutorily defined, see Estate of Baumgardner v. Commissioner, 85 T.C. 445, 449 (1985), the Supreme Court has defined overpayment as any payment in excess of that which is properly due. Jones v. Liberty Glass Co., 332 U.S. 524, 531 (1947) (defining overpayment as used in the statutory predecessor to sec. 6512(b), sec. 322 of the 1939 Code). For there to be an overpayment, the taxpayer first must have made a payment. See Bachner v. Commissioner, 109 T.C. 125, 129 (1997), aff’d without published opinion, 172 F.3d 859 (3d Cir. 1998). Because Dr. Malachinski has not made a payment for the 1980 tax year, it follows that he could not have made an overpayment that would have brought him within the purview of sec. 6512(b). Even if Dr. Malachinski’s remittance could be considered a payment rather than a deposit when it was transferred and credited to his 1982 account, sec. 6512(b)(4) nevertheless prevents the tax court from exercising jurisdiction over the remittance. This recently added subsection of I.R.C. sec. 6512/8 reads as follows: (4) Denial of Jurisdiction Regarding Certain Credits and Reductions.--The Tax Court shall have no jurisdiction under this subsection to restrain or review any credit or reduction made by the Secretary under section 6402./9 The Senate Report explains that the addition clarifies that the Tax Court does not have jurisdiction over the validity or merits of the credits or offsets that reduce or eliminate the refund to which the taxpayer was otherwise entitled. S. Rep. 105-33, 105th Cong., 1st Sess. 302-303 (1997).Although the tax court has jurisdiction to determine the amount of an overpayment, see I.R.C. sec. 6512(b)(1), it does not have jurisdiction to direct the disposition of an overpayment when that payment has been credited against another year’s assessment pursuant to sec. 6402(a) prior to the commencement of a tax court proceeding. See I.R.C. sec. 6512(b)(4); Savage v. Commissioner, 112 T.C. 46, 48- 51 (1999).