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148 (2d Cir. 2000); Duebler v. Sherneth Corp., 160 F.2d 472, 474
(2d Cir. 1947).
Similarly, the phrase “termination of an estate” has, by
necessity, been interpreted and defined by numerous bankruptcy
courts. For example, one bankruptcy court, in deciding whether
the bankruptcy estate had incurred certain administrative
expenses in a chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, held that the
estate had terminated upon the confirmation of the plan of
reorganization. See In re Westholt Manufacturing, Inc., 20
Bankr. 368 (1982), affd. sub nom. United States v. Redmond, 36
Bankr. 932 (D. Kan. 1984). In the In re Westholt case, the
Government argued that the debtor’s unpaid employment taxes were
incurred while the debtor was under chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection and therefore the taxes were administrative expenses
of the estate. In In re Westholt the Government argued, as it
has in the case before us:
until a case is closed pursuant to a final decree at
the consummation of the Chapter 11 plan, the bankruptcy
estate remains in existence and the court retains
jurisdiction over the reorganization plan so that
employment and unemployment taxes incurred by the
debtor in possession following confirmation of the plan
are taxes incurred by the estate and, thus, properly
characterized as administrative expenses. * * * [Id.
at 371.]
The court in In re Westholt, however, held that the estate
was not obligated for the employment tax because the estate
terminated upon the confirmation of the plan. The court
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