The Supreme Court of the United States announced its decision in one case this morning:
United States v. Home Concrete & Supply, LLC, No. 11-139: The Internal Revenue Service must ordinarily assess a deficiency against a taxpayer within “3 years after the return was filed.” That period is extended to 6 years when a taxpayer “omits from gross income an amount properly includible therein which is in excess of 25 percent of the amount of gross income stated in the return.” Respondent taxpayers overstated the basis of certain property that they had sold. As a result, their returns understated the gross income they received from the sale by an amount in excess of 25%. The IRS asserted the deficiency outside the 3-year limitations period but within the 6-year period. The Fourth Circuit concluded that the taxpayers’ overstatements of basis, and resulting understatements of gross income, did not trigger the extended limitations period. In a decision which did not command a full majority for all of its parts, the Court today affirmed that the 6-year period did not apply.
The Court’s opinion is available
here.