- 13 -
under section 6213, and respondent has refrained from assessing
or collecting the taxes here at issue pending a final decision of
this Court, as also provided in section 6213. All three of these
Internal Revenue Code sections have implementing regulations.
See secs. 301.6211-1, 301.6212-1, 301.6213-1, Proced. & Admin.
Regs. Petitioner's claim that a lack of implementing regulations
vitiates respondent's authority to proceed in this case is
unfounded.12
12 Contrary to petitioner's claims, the absence of
implementing regulations would not, generally speaking, preclude
the Commissioner from enforcing sections of the Internal Revenue
Code. Provisions of the Internal Revenue Code generally do not
require implementing regulations as a prerequisite to
enforcement. See Occidental Petroleum Corp. v. Commissioner, 82
T.C. 819, 829 (1984); see also E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v.
Commissioner, 102 T.C. 1, 13 (1994), affd. 41 F.3d 130 (3d Cir.
1994), affd. sub nom. Conoco, Inc. v. Commissioner, 42 F.3d 972
(5th Cir. 1995).
Petitioner's reliance on California Bankers Association v.
Shultz, 416 U.S. 21 (1974); Lyeth v. Hoey, 305 U.S. 188 (1938);
and Dodd v. United States, 223 F. Supp. 785 (D.N.J. 1963), affd.
345 F.2d 715 (3d Cir. 1965), for the proposition that the
Commissioner lacks authority to enforce Internal Revenue Code
provisions without implementing regulations, is misplaced.
Petitioner quotes, out of context, the observation in Dodd
that "For Federal tax purposes, the Federal Regulations govern."
Dodd v. United States, supra at 787. But the proposition for
which Dodd and Lyeth v. Hoey, supra, stand is that Federal
regulations, not local law, control when construing a Federal tax
statute unless the statute expressly or impliedly makes its
operation dependent upon local law. Petitioner's circumstances
do not present this issue.
Petitioner quotes from California Bankers Association v.
Shultz, supra at 26, the following:
we think it important to note that the Act's civil and
criminal penalties attach only upon violation of
regulations promulgated by the Secretary; if the
(continued...)
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