United States v. Home Concrete & Supply, LLC

Holding: Section 6501(e)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code, which extends the limitations period for the government to assess a deficiency against a taxpayer, does not apply when a taxpayer overstates the basis in property that he has sold, thereby understating the gain received from the sale.

Plain English Summary: The tax law gives the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) only a limited amount of time, known as a statute of limitations, to challenge a taxpayer’s statement on his tax return of the amount of tax that he owes. Ordinarily, that period is three years, but the law provides that it is six years in certain circumstances where it is unusually difficult for the IRS to determine that it has a disagreement with the taxpayer’s approach. In this case, the Court considered whether a particular situation – where the taxpayer has overstated its original cost of a piece of property – falls within the three-year category or instead within the six-year category. Adhering to the interpretation of the same language in an old Supreme Court decision involving a slightly different law, the Court held that the three-year statute of limitations applies. The result is that it is too late for the IRS to contest the tax liability of a large group of taxpayers that participated in certain similar deals and, according to the IRS, did not properly report the tax consequences of those deals.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

• Opinion analysis: No six-year statute of limitation on overstatement of basis (Alan Horowitz)
• Argument recap: Court explores different avenues for resolving tax case (Alan Horowitz)
• Argument preview: Can the Treasury Department's statutory interpretation trump the Court? (Alan Horowitz)

Briefs and Documents

Merits Briefs for the Petitioner

• Brief for the United States
• Reply for the  United States

Merits Briefs for the Respondents

• Brief for Home Concrete & Supply, LLC et al.

Amicus Briefs in Support of the Respondents

• Brief of American College of  Tax Counsel
• Brief of Grapevine Imports LTD.
• Brief of Daniel S. Burks and Reynolds Properties, L.P.
• Brief for Bausch & Lomb Incorporated
• Brief for National Association of Home Builders
• Brief for National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center and Cato Institute
• Brief for Utam, Ltd. and DSDBL, Ltd.
• Brief for the Government of the United States Virgin Islands 
• Brief for Professor Kristin Hickman

Certiorari-stage documents

• Opinion below (4th Cir.)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Reply for the petitioner

• Amicus brief of Bausch & Lomb, Inc.