Cite as: 536 U. S. 238 (2002)
Souter, J., dissenting
tory exception, the Secretary's regulations regarding employer recordkeeping do not impose any obligations beyond those mentioned in § 6001. See 26 CFR § 31.6001-5 (2001) (describing required records). This absolution from record-keeping is mirrored by the fact that tips are uniquely excepted from the general rule that remuneration must be reported in W-2 statements. See 26 U. S. C. § 6041(e). The upshot is that Congress has enacted a singular exception to the duty to keep records that would allow any ready wage band determinations or other checks on estimates, while the aggregate assessment practice of the IRS virtually reads the exception out of the Code.
The majority doubts that there is any practical difference between determining the liability of one employee, very possibly with an estimation similar to the one used here, and estimating the aggregate amount for an employer. Ante, at 248. But determinations limited to an individual employee will necessarily be more tailored, if only by taking the wage band into account. In fact, any such determination would occur in consequence of some audit of the employee, who would have an incentive to divulge information to contest the IRS's figures where possible, and generate the very paper trail an employer would need to contest liability while availing himself of the exception in § 6001.
D
The strangeness of combining a statute excusing employers from recordkeeping with an administrative practice of
respect to cash tips. See 26 CFR § 31.6001-5 (2001). Moreover, it would be irrational to read 26 U. S. C. § 6001 to require an employer to keep detailed records only of cash tips, while, for example, being relieved of the burden to record which employees received which charged tips, or whether the tip space was used for something other than tips, or how employees allocated charged tips amongst themselves via the process of "tipping out" (sharing tips with supporting waitstaff who do not receive their own tips, such as bartenders and hosts).
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