Omohundro v. United States

Section 6511(a) of 26 U.S.C. provided that a taxpayer who wished to receive a refund or credit from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must file an administrative claim with the IRS by the later of three years after filing the relevant return or two years after the tax was paid or, if the taxpayer did not file a return, within two years of when the tax was paid. In Miller v. United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit interpreted § 6511(a) to mean that a taxpayer must file an administrative claim within two years of the payment of the tax because (1) by this point, a court would have to decide whether the taxpayer filed a return, and (2) otherwise, taxpayers could engage in forum shopping because federal district courts would permit refund or credit claims that the United States Tax Court would bar. The Miller court did not consider IRS Revenue Ruling 76-511, which provided that a taxpayer could seek a refund within three years of a tax return’s filing. Additionally, after Miller, the United States Supreme Court held that courts should defer to an administrative agency’s informal-rulemaking interpretation of a statute. Astrid Omohundro (plaintiff) effectively filed her 1993 tax return on October 14, 1997. That return included her claim for a credit due to her overpayment of taxes for 1993. Omohundro sued the United States (defendant) in federal court in California for a 1993 credit. The district court dismissed Omohundro’s complaint, ruling that it lacked jurisdiction because Omohundro did not file a timely administrative credit claim with the IRS. Omohundro appealed. The IRS agreed with Omohundro that Miller was wrongly decided and that the appellate panel was not bound by Miller due to the Supreme Court’s intervening ruling.