Cite as: 537 U. S. 437 (2003)
Thomas, J., dissenting
other, ante, at 453-455, the conflict is irreconcilable.2 On
these facts, a taxpayer should be permitted to compute its tax liability under § 1.991-1, rather than under § 1.861- 8(e)(3), based on the principle that a specific rule governs a general one.3 See Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U. S. 374, 384 (1992); Crawford Fitting Co. v. J. T. Gibbons, Inc., 482 U. S. 437, 445 (1987); see also St. Jude Medical, Inc. v. Commissioner, 34 F. 3d 1394 (CA8 1994).
The Court disapproves of Boeing's method of allocating R&D because, as the Court sees it, Boeing's approach results in the "disappear[ance]" of relevant costs, ante, at 445, in "the sense that [R&D costs] were not accounted for by Boeing in computing its [combined taxable income]," ante, at 445, n. 10. The Court is troubled by the fact that this computation method has enabled Boeing "to deduct some $1.75 billion of expenditures from its domestic taxable earnings under 26 U. S. C. § 174 and never deduct a penny of those expenditures from its 'combined taxable earnings' under the DISC statute." Ante, at 450. But the "disappearance" of Boeing's R&D expenses is the direct result of Congress' decision to encourage such expenditures by making them immediately deductible under 26 U. S. C. § 174(a)(1). Moreover, the approach adopted in the regulations, and approved by the Court, does not remedy the alleged problem of disappearing
2 A taxpayer wishing to (1) group its sales based on an accepted industry practice, for example, based on different models, and (2) allocate its R&D expenses with respect to a specific model to the items or classes of gross income resulting from that model is not, on the Government's view, permitted to do so. Rather, the taxpayer must first allocate R&D expenses incurred in connection with the relevant model to items or classes of gross income resulting from all models falling within the same 2-digit SIC group and only after doing so can the taxpayer deduct a portion of that model's R&D expenses from the income earned by sales of that model.
3 With respect to a DISC, § 1.991-1 provides the more specific rules because it applies only to DISCs, while § 1.861-8(e)(3) sets forth more general rules because it applies to all taxpayers that have foreign source income.
461
Page: Index Previous 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007