- 19 -
And the error may be committed by the taxpayer or
by the revenue agents. Whatever the reason, the
payment of more than is rightfully due is what
characterizes an overpayment.
Id. See also United States v. Dalm, 494 U.S. 596, 610
n.6 (1990), in which the Supreme Court stated that “The
commonsense interpretation is that a tax is overpaid when
a taxpayer pays more than is owed, for whatever reason or
no reason at all.”
We considered the definition of the term “overpayment”
in Estate of Baumgardner v. Commissioner, supra. In that
case, the parties settled the issues raised in a notice of
deficiency after the personal representative had petitioned
the Tax Court to redetermine the deficiency. They agreed
that there was no deficiency and that the estate tax was
less than the amount that had been paid.
The issue in that case was whether the term
“overpayment” in section 6512(b) could include amounts that
were paid as interest, pursuant to an installment payment
plan under section 6166A. The Commissioner argued that the
Court was without jurisdiction to decide issues concerning
interest, and that the personal representative had to bring
a separate action in a U.S. District Court or in the
predecessor of the Court of Federal Claims to obtain a
refund of the overpaid interest. Unlike the present case
Page: Previous 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011