OMJ Pharms., Inc. v. United States

At issue in this appeal was a tax credit that offset federal tax owed on income earned in the operation of a business in Puerto Rico. The credit remained available to taxpayers under section 936 of the Internal Revenue Code during the ten-year transition period after section 936 was repealed. During the transition period, the taxable income an eligible claimant could claim in computing its credit was capped at an amount approximately equal to the average of the amounts it had previously claimed, but the cap could be adjusted for a taxpayer’s purchases and sales of businesses that had generated credit-eligible income. In this case, Appellant-corporation, a U.S. taxpayer, sold a line of businesses in Puerto Rico to a foreign corporation that did not pay U.S. corporate income taxes. Appellant argued it was not required to reduce its cap because the buyer had no credit cap to increase. The district court granted summary judgment for the government. The First Circuit reversed, holding (1) the reduction in a seller’s cap as a result of the sale of a business line is appropriate only in the event of a corresponding increase in the buyer’s cap; and (2) therefore, the transfers did not reduce Appellant’s credit cap. View "OMJ Pharms., Inc. v. United States" on Justia Law