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which may properly be classified as 15-year property under the
MACRS rules. Rather, their disagreement lies in whether
petitioner’s treatment of the properties as such on tax returns
filed for the years at issue constitutes an unauthorized change
in method of accounting.
Petitioner’s primary contention is that depreciating the gas
stations as 15-year property does not reflect a change in
accounting method within the meaning of section 446(e).
According to petitioner, reclassification of the gas stations as
15-year property is excepted from characterization as a change in
accounting method because the new treatment does not involve a
material item, is analogous to a change in useful life, is a mere
correction, and does not deviate from an established consistent
method of treatment.
In the alternative, even if depreciating the gas stations as
15-year property is deemed a change in accounting method,
petitioner maintains that consent for such change was received
from respondent. Petitioner alleges that respondent’s acceptance
of petitioner’s amended returns for prior years and issuance of
refunds constitutes a sufficient consent for the
reclassification.
Conversely, respondent asserts that petitioner changed its
method of accounting for the gas station properties, without
respondent’s consent, in two respects. In respondent’s
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