United States v. Home Concrete & Supply, LLC

United States v. Home Concrete & Supply, LLC
Decided April 25, 2012
Full case nameUnited States v. Home Concrete & Supply, LLC
Citations566 U.S. 478 (more)
Holding
Overstating the value of property sold in order to understate the profit made from the sale does not trigger the extended statute of limitations for the IRS to challenge the seller's tax forms.
Court membership
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Associate Justices
Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan

United States v. Home Concrete & Supply, LLC, 566 U.S. 478 (2012), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that overstating the value of property sold in order to understate the profit made from the sale does not trigger the extended statute of limitations for the IRS to challenge the seller's tax forms.[1][2]

Background

Ordinarily, the government must assess a deficiency against a taxpayer within "3 years after the return was filed" under 26 U. S. C. §6501(a). However, 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" under §6501(e)(1)(A). Some taxpayers, including Home Concrete & Supply, 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 Commissioner asserted the deficiency outside the 3-year limitations period but within the 6-year period. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the taxpayers' overstatements of basis, and resulting understatements of gross income, did not trigger the extended limitations period.[1]

Opinion of the court

The Supreme Court issued an opinion on April 25, 2012. The court affirmed. The decision was largely based on Colony, Inc. v. Commissioner, 357 U.S. 28, in which the court had interpreted similar language.[1]

Later developments

References

  1. ^ a b c United States v. Home Concrete & Supply, LLC, 566 U.S. 478 (2012).
  2. ^ Horowitz, Alan (May 1, 2012). "Opinion analysis: No six-year statute of limitation on overstatement of basis". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved November 30, 2025.
  • Text of United States v. Home Concrete & Supply, LLC, 566 U.S. 478 (2012) is available from: Justia

This article incorporates written opinion of a United States federal court. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the text is in the public domain.