Indian tribes are required by law to deduct and withhold income taxes from gambling revenues paid to Indian tribe members. They’re also subject to backup withholding and reporting requirements.
This week, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that tribes cannot use tribal sovereign immunity to avoid a federal investigation into whether they complied with those tax obligations.
Of all the appeals, in all the circuits, in all the country, the Supreme Court chose theirs.
Perhaps that's because the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals was the only appellate court to strike the individual mandate last year.
Ocmulgee Fields, Inc. v. Comm'r of Int'l. Rev., No. 09-13395, involved a petition for review of the tax court's determination that the taxpayer's like-kind exchange that interposed an intermediary between itself and a related party was not entitled to nonrecognition treatment. The court affirmed on the ground that the record adequately supported the tax court's finding that the taxpayer structured its transactions to avoid the purposes of 26 U.S.C. section 1031(f).
In an action to foreclose defendants' mortgage and to establish the priority of plaintiff's security interest over a federal tax lien, summary judgment for the IRS is vacated where plaintiff was not required to show that the parties contemplated future execution of a security agreement at the time the loans were issued. Rather, to show past consideration, plaintiff needed to present evidence that the security agreement was executed for the purpose of repaying the loans.
Read Equity Inv. Partners, LP v. Lenz, No. 09-11887
Appellate Information
Filed February 1, 2010
Judges
Opinion by Judge Cox
In a tax court petition challenging an IRS deficiency notice issued to petitioner based on improper deductions, the Tax Court's order denying the petition is affirmed where no federal law requires food or beverages to be provided to seamen aboard a fishing vessel.
Read Kurtz v. Comm'r. of Int'l. Rev., No. 08-15209
Appellate Information
Filed July 23, 2009
Judges
Opinion by Judge Quist
