Estate of Harry Orenstein - Page 14




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          to sustain the imputation of interest income, the Tax Court                 
          should have either ordered the payment of refunds to the related            
          corporations or allowed Continental to offset their overpayments            
          under the doctrine of equitable recoupment.  See id.                        
               Faced with these facts, the Court of Appeals disposed of               
          Continental’s recoupment claim with the following statement:                
          “the conclusion that the 1969 Tax Reform Act [establishing the              
          Tax Court as an Article I court] did not grant the Tax Court                
          equitable jurisdiction is inescapable.  The courts that have                
          addressed the issue are in agreement without [sic] conclusion               
          that the Tax Court still does not possess jurisdiction over                 
          equitable claims.”  Id. at 84.                                              
               We, however, find Continental Equities, Inc. v.                        
          Commissioner, supra, an insufficient basis upon which to                    
          predicate an application of the Golsen rule.  Despite the broad             
          language employed by the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit,            
          three additional considerations render us unable to make the                
          requisite conclusion that reversal by the Court of Appeals for              
          the Eleventh Circuit would be inevitable if we were to sanction             
          equitable recoupment relief in the case at bar.  These                      
          considerations include the lack of factual similarity, the                  
          lengthy interim of time and ensuing developments regarding Tax              










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