Baral v. United States, 528 U.S. 431, 9 (2000)

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Cite as: 528 U. S. 431 (2000)

Opinion of the Court

tion for an overpayment. The Service will not always assess the taxpayer's liability immediately upon receiving the return; the Service generally has three years in which to do so, see 26 U. S. C. § 6501(a) (1994 ed., Supp. III). The Code does allow for payment of interest to the taxpayer on over-payments once the return has been filed and the tax paid, 26 U. S. C. § 6611 (1994 ed. and Supp. III), but under Baral's view no interest could accrue during the time between the filing of the return and the Service's assessment. Fortunately for the timely taxpayer, the Code definitively rejects Baral's position in this setting. Section 6611(d) of 26 U. S. C. explains that the date of payment is determined according to the provisions of § 6513, which, as noted, supra, at 435- 436, plainly set a deemed date of payment for remittances of withholding and estimated income tax on the April 15 following the relevant taxable year.2

* * *

For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment below.

It is so ordered.

2 We need not address the proper treatment under § 6511 of remittances that, unlike withholding and estimated income tax, are not governed by a "deemed paid" provision akin to § 6513(b). Such remittances might include remittances of estimated estate tax, as in Rosenman, or remittances of any sort of tax by a taxpayer under audit in order to stop the running of interest and penalties, see, e. g., Moran v. United States, 63 F. 3d 663 (CA7 1995). In the latter situation, the taxpayer will often desire treatment of the remittance as a deposit—even if this means forfeiting the right to interest on an overpayment—in order to preserve jurisdiction in the Tax Court, which depends on the existence of a deficiency, 26 U. S. C. § 6213 (1994 ed. and Supp. III), a deficiency that would be wiped out by treatment of the remittance as a payment. We note that the Service has promulgated procedures to govern classification of a remittance as a deposit or payment in this context. See Rev. Proc. 84-58, 1984-2 Cum. Bull. 501.

439

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