Riggs National Corporation & Subsidiaries - Page 30




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         foreign tax withholding and payment, if possible, the district               
         director may, in his discretion, accept secondary evidence that              
         foreign withholding was in fact withheld and paid.                           
              A.  The Parties’ Contentions                                            
              In its opening brief on remand, petitioner contends that                
         through direct and secondary evidence it has established that the            
         withholding taxes in issue were actually paid by the Central Bank            
         on petitioner’s behalf.                                                      
              In his answering brief on remand, respondent contends that              
         petitioner has failed to establish that the withholding taxes in             
         issue were paid.  Respondent maintains that (1) the evidence                 
         petitioner relies upon is manifestly unreliable, and (2) the Central         
         Bank’s continuing reports that it received a “pecuniary benefit”             
         after June 28, 1985, suggests that the DARF’s the Central Bank               
         issued memorialized sham accounting entries.  In this connection,            
         respondent argues:                                                           
                   Central Bank correspondence suggests that the DARFs                
              memorialized sham accounting entries.  If someone                       
              received a pecuniary benefit of 40% of the tax it paid,                 
              it is reasonable to expect some level of awareness.  If                 
              the pecuniary benefit were eliminated, the taxpayer                     
              should know that it was paying 40% more in taxes.  This                 
              is especially true when payments of hundreds of millions                
              of cruzeiros are involved.                                              
                   Just the opposite occurred. The Central Bank                       
              provided letters conveying the DARFs to the agent banks.                
              Schedules attached to each letter from the Central Bank                 
              report each bank’s share of the relevant tax receipt and                
              an amount of pecuniary benefit received by the Central                  
              Bank. * * * After June 28, 1985, the pecuniary benefit                  
              (subsidy) rate had been reduced to zero through                         





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