Court Opinion

ID: 9456153
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:43:24.787682+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:51.841917
License: Public Domain

NICHOLS, Judge
(dissenting):
As Judge Davis points out, a regulation of long standing, Treas.Reg. § 1.-871-2(b) purports to define when an alien present in the United States is a “resident” under our income tax laws, and Reg. § 1.911-2(a) (2) incorporates it “to the extent feasible” by reference in the determination of what American citizens are bona fide foreign residents under § 911.
Under Reg. § 1.871-2(b) one who comes to the United States for a definite purpose, which “may be promptly accomplished”, is a “transient”, but if “an extended stay” is necessary to accomplish his purpose he may become a resident even if he always intends to return home when his purpose is achieved. The meaning of this, as applicable here, depends on how one reads “promptly” and “extended” and these words do not of themselves, answer our problem without ambiguity. But the regulation continues:
An alien whose stay in the United States is limited to a definite period by the immigration laws is not a resident of the United States within the meaning of this section in the absence of special circumstances.
I read this as referring to the various classes of nonimmigrants enumerated in *14008 U.S.C. § 1101(a) (15), among whom are alien officers or employees of international organizations and members of their immediate families, by subsec. (G) (IV). When such a person’s accreditation ends, the legality of his stay in the United States ends also. Menon v. Esperdy, 248 F.Supp. 261 (D.C.1965), affd. 413 F.2d 644 (2d Cir., 1969). By § 1184 nonimmigrants are admitted for such times as the Attorney General may by regulation prescribe. Without analyzing the situation in further detail I doubt if under the quoted line of Reg. § 1.871-2 (b) an alien employee of an international organization, during his accreditation, would be a “resident” here in the eyes of our income tax laws. (Of course his pay is exempt anyway under IRC of 1954 § 893). Also I doubt whether a United States citizen is properly treated as a resident of a foreign country for purposes of our income tax laws, when a foreign citizen sojourning in this country, is not treated as one of its residents, under like or similar circumstances. The clear intention is to treat the cases alike, and any failure to do so is an anomaly that requires an explanation which is not forthcoming here. What are the “special circumstances” that remove this case from the general rule, or why is it not “feasible” to apply it?
It is also significant, I think, that under § 1.871-4(b) it is presumed that an alien in the United States is a nonresident. It should likewise be presumed that a United States citizen sojourning in a foreign country is a nonresident of that country. § 911, applicable here, requires taxpayers claiming exemption under it to prove bona fide residence abroad “to the satisfaction of the Secretary.” It seems to me these provisions, taken together, add up to a more than normal burden on taxpayers to show the deficiencies assessed to be illegal because of their bona fide residence in Argentina. I do not think they have sustained the burden here.
I would dismiss both petitions.