- 9 -
U.S. 868, 887 (1991), has authority to hear such a claim. We
then proceeded to reexamine the issue in Estate of Mueller v.
Commissioner, 101 T.C. 551 (1993), and subsequently in Estate of
Bartels v. Commissioner, 106 T.C. 430 (1996), and Estate of
Branson v. Commissioner, 113 T.C. 6 (1999). In each of these
cases, we held that this Court has authority to apply equitable
recoupment. See Estate of Branson v. Commissioner, supra at 7,
14; Estate of Bartels v. Commissioner, supra at 434-436; Estate
of Mueller v. Commissioner, supra at 556, 561.
Our position in this recent line of cases rests upon
considerations of, among other things, statutory language, the
nature of this Court, and our role in resolving tax
controversies. As regards statutory language, we have
interpreted section 6214(b), which states that the Court “shall
have no jurisdiction to determine whether or not the tax for any
other year or calendar quarter has been overpaid or underpaid”,
to mean, at most, that we may be precluded from determining the
income tax or gift tax for any prior period. See Estate of
Branson v. Commissioner, supra at 12; Estate of Bartels v.
Commissioner, supra at 434. Hence, contrary to respondent’s
averments, the section does not operate to prevent an offset for
overpayment of estate tax. See Estate of Bartels v.
Commissioner, supra at 434-435.
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