e-Journal Summary

e-Journal Number : 62390
Opinion Date : 04/05/2016
e-Journal Date : 04/07/2016
Court : Michigan Court of Appeals
Case Name : LaBelle Mgmt., Inc. v. Michigan Dep't of Treasury
Practice Area(s) : Business Law Tax
Judge(s) : Per Curiam – Saad, Wilder, and Murray
Full PDF Opinion
Issues:

“Unitary business group” defined; MCL 208.1117(6); 26 USC § 957; Revenue Admin Bull 2010-1; Attribution rules under 26 USC § 318 of the Internal Revenue Code & § 117 of the Michigan Business Tax Act (MBTA) (MCL 208.1101 et seq.); Statutory construction; United States Fid. Ins. & Guar. Co. v. Michigan Catastrophic Claims Ass’n; Michigan Bell Tel. Co. v. Department of Treasury; Detroit Edison Co. v. Department of Treasury; “Ownership or control” defined; Determining the meaning of terms that are not defined under the MBTA; Town & Country Dodge, Inc. v. Department of Treasury; Consumers Power Co. v. Department of Treasury; Stock ownership; 26 USC § 958; Federal regulations directing that constructive ownership rules are to be applied to determine indirect ownership; 26 CFR §§ 1.382-2T(f)(15) & 1.704-1(b)(2)(iii)(d)(6); Federal regulations directing that constructive ownership rules are used to determine whether “stock is owned (directly or indirectly under the provisions of section 544)”; §§ 1.856-1(d)(5) & 1.861-8T(c)(2)(ii); Delineation between indirect & constructive ownership; § 1.871-14 (g)(2)(iii)(A); § 1.1291-1T(a)(8)(i); § 1.902-1(a)(4)(ii); “Owned indirectly” defined in the context of consolidated returns; § 1.1503(d)-1(b)(19); “Tiering”; In re Air Crash Disaster Near Roselawn (7th Cir.)

Summary

In an order, the court amended its published opinion (see e-Journal # 62375 in the 4/4/16 edition) to correct a clerical error. “The word ‘issue’ was omitted after the word ‘dispositive’ in the first sentence of the last paragraph on page 3.” The corrected sentence reads: There is no dispute that the dispositive issue here is what is meant by the phrase “owns or controls, directly or indirectly.” The opinion remained unchanged in all other respects.

Full PDF Opinion