Opinion ID: 1444730
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Timely Filing as a Prerequisite to Federal Jurisdiction

Text: It is undisputed that the District Court had jurisdiction to hear this suit only if the Fund filed its refund claim by June 25, 2003. To repeat, by 28 U.S.C.  1346(a)(1) Congress conferred original jurisdiction on federal district courts for civil actions against the United States for the recovery of allegedly erroneous or illegal tax assessments or collections. See Dalm, 494 U.S. at 601-02, 110 S.Ct. 1361. It limited this conferring of jurisdiction, however, to suits that follow a duly filed claim for refund or credit. 26 U.S.C.  7422(a). A claim is duly filed when it is timely. Dalm, 494 U.S. at 602, 110 S.Ct. 1361. 26 U.S.C.  6511 governs whether a refund request is timely. Comm'r of Internal Revenue v. Lundy, 516 U.S. 235, 239, 116 S.Ct. 647, 133 L.Ed.2d 611 (1996). Subsection 6511(a) states that a [c]laim for credit or refund of an overpayment of any tax imposed by this title in respect of which tax the taxpayer is required to file a return shall be filed by the taxpayer 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, or if no return was filed by the taxpayer, within 2 years from the time the tax was paid. 26 U.S.C.  6511(a). The return for the fourth quarter of 1999 (the quarter for which the Fund seeks a refund) was filed on January 31, 2000, and the IRS levied on the Fund's assets on June 25, 2001. Using the later-expiring deadline of two years after the levy,  6511(a) required the Fund to file its refund request by June 25, 2003. Doing so is a prerequisite to federal jurisdiction. [4]