Kligfeld Holdings, Kligfeld Corporation, Tax Matters Partner - Page 19




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          of due process--for why our reading of section 6229 in Rhone-               
          Poulenc leaves enough room for this distinction to make a                   
          difference.                                                                 
               Kligfeld’s first argument arises from the Commissioner’s               
          assertion in this case--an assertion he likewise made in Rhone-             
          Poulenc--that section 6229 imposes no time limit on his authority           
          to issue an FPAA for any taxable year of any partnership.20                 
          Kligfeld contends that this ignores the admonition given by the             
          Supreme Court over sixty years ago that it “would be all but                
          intolerable * * * to have an income tax system” in which “both              
          the taxpayer and the Government * * * [must] stand ready forever            
          and a day” to contest a tax assessment.  Rothensies v. Elec.                
          Storage Battery Co., 329 U.S. 296, 301 (1946).                              
               This may be true as a background principle of tax law, but             
          taxpayers are better off finding some textual hooks within the              
          Code itself on which to hang their case.  And Kligfeld has                  
          scanned the Code looking for those hooks.  He begins with section           


               20 At the hearing on the motion, the Commissioner’s counsel            
          took an extreme view of the application of Rhone-Poulenc:                   
                    The Court:  The Kligfelds, they take the life-                    
               enhancing serum, they don’t get rid of their                           
               distributed partnership property until 2100.  They got                 
               the property in 1999.  The IRS says inflated basis,                    
               partnership item, we’re going to issue an FPAA for                     
               1999, even though now it’s January of 2100.  Kosher?                   
                    IRS Counsel:  Yes, I believe that is the case,                    
               your Honor.                                                            






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