Ninth Circuit Substantially Affirms Adjustments for Bullshit Tax Shelter (1/18/14)

In Candyce Martin 1999 Irrevocable Trust v. United States, 739 F.3d 1204 (9th Cir. 2014), here, the Ninth Circuit largely affirmed the IRS's partnership adjustments denying the benefits of a bullshit tax shelter.  For an earlier blog on another aspect of this case at the trial level, see The Role of the Taxpayer's Independent Lawyer in Tax Shelter Promotions with Promoter Opinions (10/8/11), here.

In the appeal case just decided, the Court (Judge Thomas) opens with

In this appeal, we examine some of the tax consequences arising from the sale of the Chronicle Publishing Company and, specifically, whether the Internal Revenue Service's proposed adjustment of certain partnership tax items was time barred. Although the ultimate issue is relatively straightforward, both the back story and the legal framework are somewhat complex, requiring us to delve deep in the heart of taxes.

I won't try to deleve deep in the heart of taxes, but will just state that the case, involving multi-tiered partnerships, ultimately turned on an interpretation of a restrictive consent to extend the statute of limitations.  The consent involved was the Form 872-I executed by the Martin Family Trusts, the ultimate partner.  The Form 872-I is titled:  Consent to Extend the Time to Assess Tax As Well As Tax Attributable to Items of a Partnership. An unrestricted version of that form is here.  The restriction in the Form in the case was:

The amount of any deficiency assessment is to be limited to that resulting from any adjustment directly or indirectly (through one or more intermediate entities) attributable to partnership flow-through items of First Ship LLC, and/or to any adjustment attributable to costs incurred with respect to any transaction engaged in by First Ship LLC, any penalties and additions to tax attributable to any such adjustments, any affected items, and any consequential changes to other items based on any such adjustments.

Essentially, the Court held that, because of the wording of the restrictions, the consent applied to the bulk of the adjustments (some $318 million) in issue but did not apply to others (some $4 million).  So, it appears to be a substantial win for the Government.

See also Reminder on Sweep of Form 872-I, Partner Level Consent to Extend Statute of Limitations (Federal Tax Procedure Blog 11/23/12), here.

Reminder on Sweep of Form 872-I, Partner Level Consent to Extend Statute of Limitations (11/23/12)

The Tax Court recently issued a decision reminding taxpayers and practitioners how sweeping the scope of the Form 872-I is.  WHO515 Investment Partners v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2012-316, here.  The Form 872-I, here, is titled titled Consent to Extend the Time to Assess Tax As Well As Tax Attributable to Items of a Partnership.  The Form is executed by the partner in the partnership and thus, by extending the Section 6501, here, limitations periods with special reference to partnership adjustments, in effect, pre-empts the special minimum partnership limitation provisions in the TEFRA rules.  The Form 872-I thus specifically says:

Without otherwise limiting the applicability of this agreement, this agreement also extends the period of limitations for assessing any tax (including additions to tax and interest) attributable to any partnership items (see section 6231 (a)(3)), affected items (see section 6231 (a)(5)), computational adjustments (see section 6231(a)(6)), and partnership items converted to nonpartnership items (see section 6231 (b)). 

I have modified my Federal Tax Procedure book as follows (with the context indicating the new materials in bold):

Consents to Extend the Statute of Limitations Must Be Properly Executed During Open Period (9/12/12)

My partner, Larry Jones, called this IRS memorandum to my attention.  ILM 201235009, here, published also at 2012 TNT 171-27.   The bottom line is that, while the statute of limitations of limitations was still open a Form 872-I, Consent to Extend the Time to Assess Tax As Well As Tax Attributable to Items of a Partnership, here, had been signed by the Revenue Agent who did not have authority to sign a consent.  A person authorized to sign the consent subsequently signed the consent over two years later, after the statute of limitations had expired.  Held, the consent was invalid because an authorized signature for the IRS had not occurred during the period of the statute of limitations.

The memo summarizes the requirements for a valid consent as follows:

To be valid, an agreement by the taxpayer to extend the statute of limitations on assessment must be (1) in writing; (2) entered into before the expiration of the original collection period or a previously agreed upon extension; and (3) executed by the taxpayer and an authorized delegate of the Commissioner. I.R.C. § 6502(a); Treas. Reg. § 301.6502-1(a)(2)(i). In an Action on Decision regarding Rohde v. United States, 415 F.2d 695 (9th Cir. 1969), the Service acceded that, under applicable Treasury Regulations, the Commissioner (or his delegate) must counter-sign a waiver form prior to the expiration of the period of limitations for the waiver to be effective. AOD-1973-442, 1973 WL 35098 (IRS AOD). Although Rohde only addressed the validity of a waiver of the six-year period of limitations on collection after assessment, the AOD states that the signature requirement also applies to extensions of time for the assessment of income tax (i.e. Form 872). Id.

This requirement of valid signatures by the taxpayer and the IRS within the open period of limitations applies to the types of consents tax controversy practitioners usually deal with - such as most prominently the regular Form 872, here.  We recommend that taxpayers check their consents to make sure that they are signed by a person with proper authority.