General Mills, Inc. v. Limbach
General Mills, Inc. v. Limbach
Opinion of the Court
The decision of the BTA is affirmed in part and reversed in part.
I
Losses arising from General Mill’s federal tax benefit agreements are apportionable under R.C. 5733.051(H).
R.C. 5733.051 provides in part as follows:
“Net income of a corporation subject to the tax imposed by this chapter shall be allocated and apportioned to this state as follows:
(( * * *
“(B) Net rents and royalties from tangible personal property, to the extent such property is utilized in this state, are allocable to this state if the taxpayer is otherwise subject to the tax provided by this chapter;
U * * *
“(H) Any other net income, from sources other than those enumerated in divisions (A) to (G) of this section, is apportionable to this state on the basis of the mechanism provided in division (B)(2) of section 5733.05 of the Revised Code.”
These safe harbor sale and leaseback agreements, as indicated in a typical agreement presented as Exhibit 4 to the BTA at a hearing before it, provided
II
The BTA determined that CPG’s statement in its notice of appeal that “[t]he Commissioner miscalculated appellant’s foreign source income deduction allowed under R.C. § 5733.04” was sufficient “to put all on notice that the Appellant intended to prove a computational error in the calculations of the foreign source income deduction.”
There was no need for CPG to present details of the procedure by which the specification of error was to be established. R.C. 5717.02 merely requires that the error be presented with sufficient specificity to apprise the BTA of the nature and extent of the alleged error. Abex Corp. v. Kosydar (1973), 35 Ohio St.2d 13, 64 O.O.2d 8, 298 N.E.2d 584. The conclusion reached by the BTA was neither unreasonable nor unlawful, and in fact did identify the nature and extent of CPG’s contention.
III
An analysis of the issue of computing the foreign source income deduction allowable by R.C. 5733.04(1) is basic. The statute defines “net income” as:
“ * * * [t]he taxpayer’s taxable income before operating loss deduction and special deductions, as required to be reported for the taxpayer’s taxable year
In determining the amount of foreign source income, the commissioner examined the taxpayer’s federal Form 1118, which is used to calculate a credit in the amount of U.S. tax for which the taxpayer was liable on income from foreign sources.
The BTA, after quoting Westinghouse Elec. Corp. v. Lindley (1979), 58 Ohio St.2d 137, 12 O.O.3d 158, 389 N.E.2d 473, stated: “* * * the foreign source income exclusion is a matter of legislative grace and is intended to exclude for state purposes the same amount of income included for federal purposes.” The BTA found that CPG’s method of calculation “would permit an Ohio net income deduction in a different manner and to a greater extent [than] such income was included as federal taxable income.” Accordingly, the BTA rejected CPG’s claim. That decision was unreasonable and unlawful. As stated in Dana Corp. v. Limbach (1991), 60 Ohio St.3d 26, 29, 573 N.E.2d 39, 43:
“ * * * Consequently, under R.C. 5733.04(I)(2), a taxpayer may deduct from Ohio net income its operating profit from foreign operations. To determine this operating profit, the taxpayer shall deduct from gross foreign income (1) the taxpayer’s operating expenses that are directly traceable to the foreign operation and (2) a reasonable allocation of the taxpayer’s other expenses that benefited the foreign operation.”
This matter is remanded to the BTA for its determination of the proper adjustment from gross foreign income as herein set forth.
For the reasons herein stated, the decision of the BTA is affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded to the BTA for further consideration.
Decision affirmed in part, reversed in part and cause remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- General Mills, Inc., and v. Limbach, Tax Commr., and Cross-Appellee
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published