Estate of Frank A. Branson - Page 16




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          1.  Refund Time-Barred                                                      
               March filed her 1992 Federal income tax return on or about             
          April 15, 1993, and payment was made on the same date that the              
          return was filed.  March has never filed a claim for refund;                
          therefore, a claim for refund is barred by section 6511(a).                 
          2.  Single Transaction, Item, or Taxable Event                              
               Since Bull v. United States, supra, the Supreme Court has              
          emphasized that a claim of equitable recoupment will lie only               
          where the Government has taxed a single transaction, item, or               
          taxable event under two inconsistent theories.  See United States           
          v. Dalm, 494 U.S. at 608 n.5 (construing Rothensies v. Electric             
          Storage Battery Co., 329 U.S. 296, 299-300 (1946), Bull v. United           
          States, supra, and Stone v. White, supra).  The terms "single               
          transaction", "item", or "event" are not synonymous, and the                
          inclusion of "item" in this phrase is significant in our case.              
               In Bull v. United States, supra, Archibald Bull (Bull) died            
          owning a partnership interest, including the right to receive               
          future profits.  The partnership interest was transferred to his            
          estate, and, later his estate received the sum of approximately             
          $212,000, constituting its share of partnership profits earned              
          subsequent to Bull's death.  In 1921, the executor, at the                  
          Commissioner's insistence, erroneously included this sum in the             
          gross estate under the theory that it was estate corpus, and                
          thus, it was subjected to estate taxes.  In 1925, the Government            





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