This week in Klein v Commissioner the Tax Court in a division opinion held that assessments of restitution do not generate underpayment interest or late payment penalties. This is an important holding and a case of first impression.
read more...Section 6201(a)(4) gives the Service to power to assess restitution “in the same manner as if such amount were such tax.” Following a restitution assessment, Internal Revenue Manual provisions and Service policy has been to impose underpayment interest and late payment penalties on amounts that are unpaid similar to other unpaid tax.
To the facts at hand. In Klein, after some delay, the taxpayer fully paid the restitution, as well as interest that accrued pursuant to the statute in Title 18 that allowed for restitution. The taxpayer did not pay the separate Title 26 interest and late payment penalties that the Service imposed and assessed.
The IRS commenced administrative collection with respect to the unpaid interest and penalties. In a CDP proceeding the taxpayer challenged the Service’s right to impose underpayment interest and civil penalties, having claimed that it fully paid what was due.
The taxpayer had to clear the hurdle that she could challenge the Service’s imposition of penalties and interest in the CDP proceeding. The Court found that it was possible, noting that in a CDP proceeding, “underlying tax liability refers to the assessed liabilities that the IRS is seeking to collect via the challenged lien or levy.”
The opinion then considered the Service’s interest and penalty procedures in place for restitution assessments under the Internal Revenue Manual. The Tax Court held that the statutory language that gives IRS the power to assess restitution “as if” it were a tax does not transform the assessed restitution into a tax for purposes of the penalty and interest provisions. In doing so, the opinion discusses how the statute is drafted in the subjunctive mood.
For those who may have forgotten their Latin, the opinion explains what that means:
This clause is drafted in the subjunctive mood. Clauses of this type are commonly used to express a counterfactual hypothesis. See, e.g., Andrea A. Lunsford, The St. Martin’s Handbook 633 (5th ed. 2003) (describing the subjunctive mood as expressing “a wish, suggestion, requirement, or a condi- tion contrary to fact”). For example, assume a statute providing that certain per- sons (green card holders, perhaps) shall be treated “in the same manner as if they were citizens.” In such a statute, Congress would necessarily presume that such persons were not in fact citizens, providing merely that they should be accorded the treatment which citizens receive.
So as Alicia Silverstone in Clueless can attest, “as if” is an important phrase. As the opinion explains, the “as if” in the statute provides “the counterfactual hypothesis that restitution is a tax for the limited purpose of enabling the IRS to assess that amount, thus creating an account receivable on the taxpayer’s transcript against which the restitution payment can be credited.” It is treated like a tax but is not a tax.
In addition to parsing the statute, the opinion notes that the criminal concepts of tax loss and restitution do not neatly equate with the concepts of civil tax liability. In 2010 when Congress gave the IRS the power to assess (and collect) restitution it did not alter the fundamental distinction between the separate criminal and civil concepts.
To be sure, if the Service gets around to a civil examination, it can potentially generate an assessment that would be based on deficiency procedures. (for readers who would like more background on the interplay of the deficiency assessment procedures and the relatively new restitution assessment procedures see Keith’s post from this past spring discussing the issue here). If the Service were to conduct a civil examination and the amount assessed under deficiency procedures is both unpaid and exceeds what has previously been collected, it will be possible for Title 26 interest and civil penalties to start running.
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