Update on Intermountain Cases

Although our blog coverage might reasonably be accused of hibernating over the summer, court calendars inexorably marched on, and there were several developments in the various Intermountain cases.  If the Supreme Court grants cert in Beard on September 26, as we have predicted, these developments will not be of much moment, since all of the cases will likely be governed by the Supreme Court’s decision in Beard.  The one possible exception is the Federal Circuit’s decision in Grapevine, where the taxpayer’s cert petition has been fully briefed and is ready for consideration by the Supreme Court on September 26 … Read More

Taxpayer Seeks Rehearing in Salman Ranch

While we wait to see what the government will say to the Supreme Court on the Intermountain issue, litigation continues in the courts of appeals.  (The government’s response to the certiorari petition in Beard is currently due on July 27.)   The taxpayer has filed a petition for rehearing en banc in Salman Ranch.  It is hard to imagine that the Tenth Circuit will head down that road when it appears that the Supreme Court will address the issue.  Salman Ranch, however, does present one wrinkle not present in the other cases — namely, whether the government was precluded by … Read More

Beard Becomes First Intermountain Case to Reach the Supreme Court

We have been noting for the past few months that the Intermountain issue would be heading to the Supreme Court soon, with the government’s petition in the Home Concrete case due on July 5.  The taxpayers in Beard have jumped the line, however, by seeking certiorari ahead of the deadline, and that case is now docketed in the Supreme Court as No. 10-1553.  Meanwhile, the government has obtained a 30-day extension until August 3 to file its certiorari petition in Home Concrete.  Thus, unless the taxpayer in either Salman Ranch, Grapevine, or one of the D.C. Circuit cases sprints to … Read More

Tenth Circuit Sides With Government on Intermountain Issue

The Tenth Circuit, after a long period of deliberation, has reversed the Tax Court in Salman Ranch.  (Opinion linked here.)  This now makes the score 3-2 in favor of the government in the series of appeals that have spread to most circuits.  See our original report here.

The Tenth Circuit’s opinion closely tracks the reasoning of the Federal Circuit in Grapevine.  The court first looked at the Supreme Court’s decision in Colony and concluded that it should not be read as holding that the statute unambiguously supports the taxpayer’s position.  (The Tenth Circuit did note its disagreement with … Read More

Cert Granted in Kawashima

The Supreme Court this morning granted certiorari in one case, Kawashima v. Holder, on which we have been reporting for some time.  See our original post here.  As we observed in our report on the cert petition, the Court always has the option of limiting its grant of certiorari to a subset of the questions presented in the petition, and it has exercised that option here.  The Court will resolve only the first question presented — namely, whether violations of 26 U.S.C. 7206 (subscribing to a false statement on a tax return) are “aggravated felonies” that can justify … Read More

United States Opposes Certiorari in Kawashima

After four extensions, the government finally filed its response to the petition for certiorari in Kawashima.  As we previously reported (see here and here), that petition raises a question on which the courts of appeals are in conflict — whether a tax offense other than tax evasion can be an “aggravated felony” for purposes of the immigration laws, which would justify deportation of a resident alien.  Maybe the government was spending all that extra time considering whether to “acquiesce” in the petition and invite the Supreme Court to resolve the conflict, or maybe it was just taking its sweet old … Read More

Rehearing Denied in Burks

On April 15, the Fifth Circuit denied the government’s rehearing petition in Burks.  Not surprisingly, the courts of appeals are showing little interest in sitting en banc to address the Intermountain issue when they cannot eliminate the circuit conflict.  To recap, a rehearing petition is pending in the Federal Circuit, but the other three circuits to rule (the Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh) have denied rehearing, and the time is running to file petitions for certiorari in those cases.  The first deadline on the horizon is in the Home Concrete case from the Fourth Circuit, where the certiorari petition is due July 5.… Read More

Fourth Circuit Denies Rehearing in Home Concrete

On April 5, the Fourth Circuit denied rehearing in Home Concrete, one of the Intermountain-type cases that went for the taxpayer.  This now becomes the first of the cases for which there is no recourse left other than seeking Supreme Court review.  The government is very likely to pursue that course of action.  A petition for certiorari would be due on July 5.… Read More

D.C. Circuit Leans Toward Government at Intermountain Oral Argument

On April 5, the D.C. Circuit (Judges Sentelle, Randolph, and Tatel) heard oral argument in Intermountain and its companion case, UTAM.  The court’s questions generally indicated that the most likely outcome is a reversal of the Tax Court and another point for the government in the circuit court competition that is currently tied at 2-2.  (See our recent report on the Federal Circuit’s decision in Grapevine.)

Judge Randolph in particular was an advocate for the government’s position.  He dismissed the argument that Congress could be regarded as having adopted the Colony result under the doctrine of reenactment, … Read More

New Government Filings Try to Unify Courts of Appeals Behind the Six-Year Statute for Overstatements of Basis

As we have reported extensively (e.g. here and here), the courts of appeals appear to be hopelessly split on the “Intermountain” issue of whether a six-year statute of limitations applies to overstatements of basis.  Nevertheless, the government has not given up on the possibility of winning this issue in all courts of appeals and thus eliminating the need for it to go to the Supreme Court.  To that end, it filed in two cases at the rehearing stage yesterday. 

In the Beard case in the Seventh Circuit, the government filed a response opposing the taxpayer’s petition for … Read More

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