Cert Denied in SIH Partners
January 13, 2020
As expected, the Supreme Court this morning declined to review the Third Circuit’s decision in SIH Partners, thus bringing the litigation to a close.
Supreme Court Poised to Rule on SIH Partners Cert Petition
January 7, 2020
We noted in our prior coverage of this case that SIH Partners was likely to seek Supreme Court review of the adverse decision it received in the Third Circuit regarding loan guarantees issued by a CFC, even if a grant of certiorari was a longshot. The Court is now scheduled to consider the taxpayer’s cert petition at its January 10 conference and will likely announce its determination on January 13.
In an effort to interest the Court in the case, the taxpayer chose to focus entirely on the administrative law issues presented by the case, not on the substantive tax issues. The only questions presented in the cert petition are: “1. Whether the Third Circuit erred in deferring to the IRS regulation under Chevron” and “2. Whether the Third Circuit erred in holding that the IRS is not bound by its own published Revenue Rulings.”
The taxpayer states that these are questions of broad importance in administrative law and argues that the courts of appeals are in conflict in addressing them. As to the first question, the taxpayer asserts that “the Third Circuit stretched Chevron deference past the point any other court has gone.” As to the second, the taxpayer quotes the Third Circuit’s statement that a Revenue Ruling “does not bind the IRS” and asserts that other courts have held that the IRS is bound by its own Revenue Rulings.
The government in response asserts that the case does not present any issue warranting the Supreme Court’s attention. Its brief in opposition shifts the focus away from the broad administrative law questions set forth by the taxpayer and devotes more attention to the substantive tax issues, suggesting that the outcome would have been the same even if the court had agreed with the taxpayer’s Chevron position. It notes that the court of appeals “devoted only a single paragraph of its opinion” to a recitation of Chevron principles and simply held that Treasury did not act arbitrarily in failing to adopt the regulatory exception sought by the taxpayer. In any event, the government disputes the assertion of a circuit conflict regarding Chevron, stating that the cases cited by the taxpayer simply reflect different results attributable to different facts. As to the Revenue Ruling, the government does not take issue with the principle that Revenue Rulings are generally binding on the IRS, arguing that the Third Circuit’s decision should be understood as stating that the Revenue Ruling cited by the taxpayer was “inapposite” in the circumstances of this case because the regulation leaves no room for the facts and circumstances inquiry sought by the taxpayer. Finally, to the extent the Third Circuit’s view on Revenue Rulings is in tension with other courts of appeals, the government contends that this case “is a poor vehicle” for the Supreme Court to consider that question.
The taxpayer’s reply brief seeks to cut through the complexity of the government’s response, stating that “the IRS tries to defeat certiorari by ignoring what the other circuits have actually said and rewriting both the agency’s explanation for the Regulation and the Third Circuit’s opinion.”
The three Supreme Court filings are linked below.
Government Brief in Opposition
SIH Reply Brief in Support of Petition
