Justia U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Articles Posted in Tax Law
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The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the tax court sustaining a notice of deficiency issued by the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) to TBL Licensing LLC for the 2011 tax year, holding that the Tax Commissioner properly determined that TBL's transfer of its intangible property was followed by a disposition of that property, requiring TBL to pay the tax due in a lump sum.In 2011, TBL transferred the intangible property at issue, which was worth approximately $1.5 billion, to an affiliated foreign corporation. TBL argued that the tax attributable to the transfer, which occurred in the context of a corporate reorganization involving an exchange as described in section 26 U.S.C. 361, could be paid on an annual basis by one of TBL's affiliates. The IRS disagreed and assessed a deficiency based on its position that TBL was required to pay tax on the entire gain and to do so in its 2011 tax return. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that there was nothing in 26 U.S.C. 367(d) that would absolve TBL of its responsibility under the disposition-payment rule. View "TBL Licensing LLC v. Werfel" on Justia Law

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The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court affirming the ruling of the bankruptcy court that the tax liabilities relevant to this appeal had not been discharged, holding that, under the subjective version of the so-called "Beard test," Appellant never filed "returns" for the tax years at issue.The IRS assessed tax believed to be due from Appellant, including penalties and interest, for tax year 1997 in the amount of $30,568 and tax year 2000 in the amount of $46,344. Appellant did not pay the overdue taxes and later filed a chapter 13 petition for bankruptcy. In 2017, Appellant received a discharge. At issue was whether Appellant's discharge covered his debts to the IRS. The bankruptcy court concluded that the tax liabilities at issue had not been discharged. The district court affirmed. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that, applying the Beard test that Appellant urged the bankruptcy court to adopt, Appellant's filings did not represent "an honest and reasonable attempt to satisfy the requirements of the Federal income tax law." View "Kriss v. United States" on Justia Law

Posted in: Bankruptcy, Tax Law
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The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court ruling for the government on its complaint seeing to obtain a judgment against Monica Toth for failing to pay an ordered penalty holding that there was no error.In 2013, the IRS assessed a civil penalty against Toth in consequence of her failure to comply with the reporting requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act in connection with her Swiss bank account. Toth refused to pay the penalty of the maximum allowable set forth in the Act, and the government filed suit. The district court granting summary judgment in favor of Toth. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that Toth was not entitled to relief on any of her proffered grounds for overturning the summary judgment against her. View "United States v. Toth" on Justia Law

Posted in: Tax Law
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The First Circuit reversed the judgment of the district court dismissing for want of jurisdiction under the Tax Injunction Act (TIA) this lawsuit asking that the district court enjoin the collection of certain Rhode Island tolls as violative of the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, holding that the TIA's prohibition stating that district courts shall not enjoin levy or collection of "any tax under State law" where a remedy may be had in state courts is inapplicable to the Rhode Island tolls.A Rhode Island statute authorized the Rhode Island Department of Transportation to collect from tractor-trailers certain tolls in order to pay for replacement, reconstruction, maintenance, and operation of Rhode Island bridges. Plaintiff trucking entities brought this lawsuit. The district court dismissed the lawsuit, concluding that it lacked jurisdiction under the TIA. The First Circuit reversed, holding the the tolls in this case were not a "tax" under the statute. View "American Trucking Ass'n v. Alviti" on Justia Law

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The First Circuit reversed the decision of the Tax Court ruling that Appellants owed an excise tax for contributions made to their Roth individual retirement accounts (Roth IRAs) in violation of contribution limits, holding that a transaction Appellants entered into to reduce their federal taxes violated neither the letter nor purpose of the relevant statutory provisions.Specifically, the Tax Court found that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue appropriately recharacterized the transaction at issue under the common-law substance over form doctrine because the transaction’s sole purpose was to “shift[] millions of dollars into Roth IRAs in violation of the statutory contribution limits.” The First Circuit reversed, holding that the Commissioner did not have the power to call Appellants’ transaction a violation of the Tax Code where the transaction did not violate the plain intent of the relevant statutes. View "Benenson v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue" on Justia Law

Posted in: Tax Law
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The First Circuit reversed the decision of the Tax Court ruling that Appellants owed an excise tax for contributions made to their Roth individual retirement accounts (Roth IRAs) in violation of contribution limits, holding that a transaction Appellants entered into to reduce their federal taxes violated neither the letter nor purpose of the relevant statutory provisions.Specifically, the Tax Court found that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue appropriately recharacterized the transaction at issue under the common-law substance over form doctrine because the transaction’s sole purpose was to “shift[] millions of dollars into Roth IRAs in violation of the statutory contribution limits.” The First Circuit reversed, holding that the Commissioner did not have the power to call Appellants’ transaction a violation of the Tax Code where the transaction did not violate the plain intent of the relevant statutes. View "Benenson v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue" on Justia Law

Posted in: Tax Law
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The First Circuit affirmed the Tax Court’s decision upholding the Commissioner’s notice of deficiency against Transupport, Inc. The notice of deficiency reduced Transport’s cost of goods sold, reduced deductions it took for compensation paid to four employee-shareholders, and assessed a twenty percent accuracy-related penalty for tax years 2006 through 2008.This was the Tax Court’s second opinion in this case, the first of which addressed whether Transupport committed fraud. The First Circuit affirmed the Tax Court’s decision in Transupport II, as to which this appeal was taken, holding that the Tax Court (1) did not make errors of law or err in its findings of fact when upholding the notice of deficiency’s adjustment to deductions Transupport took for compensation paid to the employee-shareholders; (2) did not clearly err in determining Transupport’s gross profit percentage with regard to the cost of goods sold; and (3) did not clearly err in applying the accuracy-related penalty. View "Transupport, Inc. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue" on Justia Law

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Defendant divorced his wife in order to transfer assets fraudulently and avoid some tax liability. The district court set aside the separation agreement as a fraudulent transfer and proceeded to redivide and reallocate certain assets applying Massachusetts law. The government’s tax liens attached directly to any assets allocated to Defendant, but the government argued that its tax liens also attached indirectly to certain assets allocated to Defendant’s wife. This appeal concerned the district court’s allocation of two assets that the district court divided more or less evenly. The First Circuit vacated in part and affirmed in part, holding (1) with regard to funds that were directly traceable to the tax shelter that Defendant used to reduce his taxable income for several years, it was not clear whether the district court considered fourteen factors required by Massachusetts law in order to arrive at an equitable division of the parties’ assets; and (2) the government was not entitled to Defendant’s wife’s half of the proceeds from the sale of property owned by Defendant and his wife in Massachusetts on a lien-tracing theory. Remanded. View "United States v. Baker" on Justia Law

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A court-appointed receiver (the Receiver), acting on behalf of a class of defrauded persons (the underlying plaintiffs), attempted to collect judgments previously rendered against several corporations and their proprietors. When the Receiver was able to recoup only a portion of the amount, it filed a tax-refund claim. The IRS denied the tax-refund claim. Thereafter, the Receiver responded by bringing this suit pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1346(a). At issue in this case was the statute’s requirement that a taxpayer who seeks to reduce her tax liability under certain circumstances have an “unrestricted right” to income when she first reported it. The district court fashioned a judicially-created exception to the statute’s “unrestricted right” requirement, proceeded to deny the government’s motion to dismiss, and granted a modicum of relief. The First Circuit reversed, holding that the district court erred in refusing to follow section 1341(a)’s unambiguous textual mandate by carving out a special exemption from the “unrestricted right” requirement for parties in either the Receiver’s or the underlying plaintiffs’ position. Remanded for entry of judgment dismissing the tax-refund suit. View "Robb Evans & Associates, LLC v. United States" on Justia Law

Posted in: Tax Law
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Pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code, taxpayers receive credits against owed U.S. income tax for money paid to a foreign country for “taxable international business transactions of economic substance.” Some banks have engaged in transactions that generate a foreign tax credit in order to take advantage of the U.S. deductions. In this case, the IRS began disallowing the claim for foreign tax credits sought by Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., later acquired by Santander Holdings USA, Inc. (together, Sovereign), a U.S. taxpayer, and, in 2008, began imposing accuracy-related penalties. Sovereign brought suit to obtain a refund from the IRS, the amount of which was approximately $234 million in taxes, penalties, and interest. The transaction at issue complied on its face with then-existing U.S. statutory and regulatory requirements. The government opposed the refund, arguing that the transaction failed the common law economic substance test. The district court awarded summary judgment to Sovereign, concluding that the transactions had economic substance. The First Circuit reversed, holding that the government was entitled to summary judgment in its favor as to the economic substance of the transaction at issue. View "Santander Holdings USA, Inc. v. United States" on Justia Law

Posted in: Tax Law