Opinion ID: 166838
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Tax Years 1984, 1985 and 1991-93

Text: Under 26 U.S.C. § 6511(a), a refund claim for an overpayment of tax must be made within the latter of three years from the time the return is filed or two years from the time the tax is paid. See Richards v. Comm’r, 37 F.3d 587, 589 (10th Cir. 1994). “No credit or refund shall be allowed or made after the expiration of the period of limitation prescribed in subsection (a) for the filing of a claim for credit or refund, unless a claim for credit or refund is filed by the 5 taxpayer within such period.” 26 U.S.C. § 6511(b)(1). Moreover, § 7422 of the Internal Revenue Code provides that the failure to comply with these time limits constitutes a jurisdictional defect that bars a lawsuit in federal district court to obtain a refund. See Sorrentino v. IRS, 383 F.3d 1187, 1188 (10th Cir. 2004) (stating that “[§] 6511 of the [Internal Revenue Code] limits the Government’s waiver of immunity under § 7422(a) by requiring a taxpayer to file a claim for refund or credit with the IRS within a specified period of time” and that “the taxpayer’s timely filing of such claim with the IRS is a jurisdictional prerequisite to maintaining a tax refund suit against the Government”). Here, there is no dispute that, as to the tax years 1984, 1985, and 1991-93, the Bruners did not file their claims for refunds within the required time-period. In particular, the Bruners filed their refund claims on April 14, 1998. By that time more than three years had elapsed from the filing of their 1984, 1985, and 1991-93 returns, and more than two years had elapsed from their latest tax payments for those years. See Aple’s Br. at 7 (summarizing the dates on which the Bruners filed returns and paid taxes). Nevertheless, the Bruners argue that the limitations period should be equitably tolled. They cite several cases in which courts have indicated that statutes of limitations may not apply to claims asserted by Indians holding restricted land. Aplts’ Reply Br. at 2-3; Dodge v. United States, 362 F.2d 810, 812 (Ct. Cl. 1966) (discussing “[t]he equitable exception to 6 the statutory limitation periods for noncompetent Indians with trust income”); Daney v. United States, 247 F.Supp. 533, 535 (D. Kan. 1965) (stating that “general rules of tax law, like general acts of Congress, do not apply to restricted Indians in such a strict manner” and that “[a judge in the Western District of Oklahoma] has recently ruled that a refund claim can be filed by a restricted Indian at any time”). We are not persuaded by the Bruners’ argument. First, in a case decided after those on which the Bruners rely, the Supreme Court has concluded that “Congress did not intend the ‘equitable tolling’ doctrine to apply to § 6511’s time limitations.” United States v. Brockamp, 519 U.S. 347, 354 (1997). Moreover, as the IRS observes, the equitable tolling decisions invoked by the Bruners involved government officials who filed a tax return on behalf of an Indian. Thus, the principle at work is that the Indian taxpayer should not have been precluded from seeking a refund if he or she had relied on a government official to handle tax matters. Those decisions are inapplicable here. As the IRS indicates, the Bruners did not rely on a government official to pay their tax returns. The Bruners signed their own returns, and they were reviewed and submitted by professional preparers. Accordingly, we conclude that the district court lacked jurisdiction over the 7 Bruners’ claims for refunds for the years 1984, 1985, and 1991-1993.