Marci L. and Carl C. Voigt - Page 8

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          allowable.3  See sec. 6211(b)(4).  Accordingly, whether or not              
          petitioners ever received the disputed refund check, the                    
          deficiency is $2,396; i.e., the excess of $0 over negative                  
          $2,396.                                                                     
               2.  No Overpayment Claim                                               
               The amount of the disputed refund check is too small to                
          create an overpayment.  The term “overpayment” has been                     
          interpreted to mean “any payment in excess of that which is                 
          properly due.”  Jones v. Liberty Glass Co., 332 U.S. 524, 531               
          (1947); see also United States v. Dalm, 494 U.S. 596, 609 n.6               
          (1990) (“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.”).  As relevant here, section 6401(b) provides               
          that if the amount “allowable” as refundable credits, such as the           
          wage withholding credit under section 31 and the EIC under                  
          section 32, exceeds the “tax imposed”, the excess “shall be                 
          considered an overpayment.”                                                 
               It is undisputed that for the year at issue, petitioners               
          have an allowable section 31 wage withholding credit of $225                

               3 Pursuant to sec. 6211(b)(4), as relevant herein, any                 
          excess of the amount of earned income credit (EIC) claimed by the           
          taxpayer over the amount of tax due shown on the return without             
          regard to the EIC is taken into account as a negative amount of             
          tax.  On their 2000 return, petitioners claimed a $2,396 EIC.               
          The amount of tax due shown on the return, without regard to the            
          EIC, was zero.  Accordingly, under sec. 6211(b)(4), the $2,396              
          excess of the former amount over the latter amount is treated as            
          a negative amount of tax.                                                   





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