Aiken v. Burnet, 282 U.S. 277 (1931)

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Aiken v. Burnet

No. 69

Argued December 3, 1930
Decided January 5, 1931
282 U.S. 277

CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

1. The right of the taxpayer to make, and the authority of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to accept, a waiver of the period of limitations on assessment of income and excess profits tax, existed before the enactment of the Revenue Act of 1921, which was the first of the revenue acts to provide in terms for waivers. § 250(d). P. 280.

2. If statutory authority was needed for the acceptance of such waivers prior to the Revenue Act of 1921, it may be found in the general administrative provision of earlier revenue acts. P. 281.

3. While § 250(d) of the Revenue Act of 1921 first specified that a waiver should be in writing and signed by the Commissioner, it did not invalidate an earlier waiver of "any and all statutory limitations" upon an assessment of 1917 taxes, even as applied to limitations imposed by § 250(d) itself. P. 281.

4. A waiver referring to taxes imposed by the Act of Sept. 8, 1916, as amended by the Act of October 3, 1917, held operative to extend the period for assessment of war-profits as well as income taxes. P. 282.

5. A waiver purporting to extend the time for assessment held applicable also to the time for collection. Stange v. United States, ante, p. 270. P. 282.

6. Under §§ 270 and 278(d) of the Revenue Act of 1924, income and excess profits taxes for 1917, assessed March 12, 1925, pursuant to valid time extensions, are collectible within six years of the assessment. Id.

35 F.2d 620 affirmed.

Certiorari, 281 U.S. 713, to review a judgment sustaining a decision of the Board of Tax Appeals, 10 B.T.A. 553, which had affirmed an assessment of income and excess profits taxes.