KERRIGAN, Judge.
This case is before the Court on petitioner's motion for summary judgment filed under Rule 121 upon the question of whether the Tax Court has jurisdiction over a duplicate refund made to petitioner. Respondent objects to the motion. On September 29, 2011, respondent issued petitioner a notice of deficiency, increasing petitioner's tax liability by $63,854 for tax year 1999. In respondent's amended answer respondent asserts that petitioner's deficiency should be increased to $327,163, disallowing fully a $351,487 refund issued to petitioner on April 2, 2010.
Unless otherwise indicated, all section references are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect for the year in issue, and all Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure. We round all monetary amounts to the nearest dollar.
The following facts are not in dispute. Petitioner's principal place of business was in Kansas when it filed the petition.
In May 2005 petitioner was acquired by YRC Worldwide Inc. & Subsidiaries (YRC Worldwide).
YRC Worldwide reported a net operating loss on its Form 1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, its consolidated return for tax year 2008. YRC Worldwide carried back a portion of that net operating loss to tax year 1999 for petitioner. In 1999 petitioner was known as USFreightways Corp. & Subsidiaries.
On September 30, 2009, respondent issued to petitioner a $351,966 refund check, of which $351,487 was a tentative refund of corporate income tax for petitioner's 1999 tax year and $479 was net overpayment interest. Petitioner received and deposited this refund check. The parties agree that the September 30, 2009, refund was a rebate refund within the definition of section 6211(b)(2).
At a time not apparent from the record respondent "processed" the Form 1139 a second time. On April 2, 2010, respondent issued to petitioner a $357,205 refund check, of which $351,487 was a tentative refund of corporate income tax for petitioner's 1999 tax year and $5,718 was net overpayment interest. Petitioner received and deposited this refund check. Neither petitioner nor YRC Worldwide filed an independent claim for petitioner's 1999 tax year that would have resulted in the two tax refund payments of $351,487, plus interest, issued to petitioner on September 30, 2009, and April 2, 2010.
At a time not apparent from the record respondent decreased YRC Worldwide's net operating loss for tax year 2008. Because of this decrease, respondent determined that $182,441 of YRC Worldwide's net operating loss carryback as attributed to petitioner's 1999 tax year should be disallowed. In the notice of deficiency, respondent determined that this disallowance resulted in a deficiency of $63,854 for petitioner's 1999 tax year.
In the amended answer, however, respondent requests that petitioner's deficiency for tax year 1999 be increased from $63,854 to $327,163 so as to disallow "the double NOL deduction that arises from a duplicate processing of a tentative refund".
Summary judgment may be granted where the pleadings and other materials show that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and that a decision may be rendered as a matter of law. Rule 121(b);
Respondent has failed to show that there is a genuine dispute for trial. As discussed below, respondent contends merely that the second "processing" was sufficient to render the April 2, 2010, refund a rebate refund. Consequently, we conclude there is no dispute as to any material fact and that a decision may be rendered as a matter of law.
The Internal Revenue Code recognizes two types of refunds: rebate and nonrebate.
Nonrebate refunds, on the other hand, bear no relation to a recalculation of tax liability, and they are often issued to taxpayers because of clerical or computer errors.
The Commissioner may recover a nonrebate refund only under section 7405
In
The parties agree that there is no dispute as to whether the April 2, 2010, refund was a duplicate tentative refund of corporate income tax for petitioner's 1999 tax year. They dispute only whether the second "processing" that occurred was sufficient to render the April 2, 2010, refund a rebate refund. The issue is whether the April 2, 2010, refund was issued to petitioner on the basis of a substantive recalculation of tax liability (making it a rebate refund) or because of clerical or computer errors (making it a nonrebate refund). For the reasons discussed below we find that a clerical error occurred rather than a substantive recalculation of petitioner's tax liability.
As discussed above the parties agree that the September 30, 2009, refund was a rebate refund. The September 30, 2009, refund was made close to 90 days from the date on which YRC Worldwide filed the Form 1139 for petitioner.
Respondent has provided two documents that clarify what happened during the second "processing". First, respondent provided a declaration by the lead revenue agent assigned to the corporate income tax examination of YRC Worldwide and its subsidiaries. The declaration included a copy of YRC Worldwide's Form 1139 for petitioner. On the copy of the Form 1139, the lead revenue agent wrote: "1) 10/26/09. Per Michele: IRS stated over a month (1 mo.) ago that the refund is being paid. However, the refund
These documents show that respondent did not substantively recalculate petitioner's tax liability for tax year 1999. Respondent's transcripts for petitioner's 1999 tax year also show that respondent did not substantively recalculate petitioner's tax liability. A Form 4340, Certificate of Assessments, Payments, and Other Specified Matters, for petitioner's 1999 tax year states as follows:
An official IRS non-master-file transcript for petitioner's 1999 tax year shows the same activity occurring in the same manner. Thus, the record does not reflect that the April 2, 2010, refund was the result of a substantive recalculation of tax liability. The difference in the refund amounts is attributed to accrued interest.
The record convinces us that the April 2, 2010, refund was a clerical error. The manual refund posting voucher shows that an IRS employee manually issued the second refund using a Form 5330-PO and based the refund on petitioner's transcript of account. We note that neither petitioner's tax liability for tax year 1999 nor the amount of tentative carryback refund requested changed between September 30, 2009, when the first refund was issued, and April 2, 2010. On the manual refund posting voucher the IRS employee wrote that the relevant form number was 5330-PO. Likewise, on the April 2, 2010, refund check, respondent wrote "F5330".
Consequently, we hold that the April 2, 2010, refund was a nonrebate refund. Respondent may not use this deficiency procedure to recover the April 2, 2010, refund.
Any contentions we have not addressed are irrelevant, moot, or meritless.
To reflect the foregoing,