Cite as: 516 U. S. 235 (1996)
Thomas, J., dissenting
legislative history, or other related statutory provisions indicate that Congress meant to prevent a taxpayer from receiving his refund from the Tax Court, even though the other courts could have ordered the refund.
Section 6512(b)(3)(B) does not merely incorporate § 6511, of course. Instead, § 6512(b)(3)(B) provides that the Tax Court is to determine what portion of tax was paid "within the period which would be applicable under section 6511(b)(2) . . . , if on the date of the mailing of the notice of deficiency a claim had been filed." (Emphasis added.) The question is whether the addition of this language somehow prevents a taxpayer in Lundy's situation from collecting a refund in Tax Court. In asserting that § 6512(b)(3)(B) does not permit recovery here, the Commissioner must tacitly rely upon one of two theories of interpreting that provision— that adopted by the Tax Court or that adopted by the majority.
Under the Tax Court's interpretation in this case, "section 6512(b)(3)(B) directs us to focus on the situation as it would have been on a specified date—the date of the mailing of the notice of deficiency." 65 TCM 3011, 3014 (1993), ¶ 93,278 RIA Memo TC. According to the Tax Court, § 6512(b)(3)(B) "requires us to 'take a snapshot' of the situation" on the date the notice of deficiency was mailed. Ibid. Hence, the applicable look-back period is the period that would have been applicable under § 6511(b)(2), if on the date of the mailing of the notice of deficiency a claim had been filed and if a determination as to the appropriate look-back period had also been made at that time—that is, without the benefit of the information that a real claim was ultimately filed less than three years after the tax was paid. The majority's interpretation of § 6512(b)(3)(B) is only slightly different—in a way that does not help Lundy. Under that interpretation, "the 'claim' contemplated in that section [is to be] treated as the only mechanism for determining whether a taxpayer can recover a refund." Ante, at 242 (emphasis added).
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