United States v. Abel Cosmo Galletti et al. (541 U.S. 114)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 23, 2004 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 541 U.S. 114 · 124 S. Ct. 1548
- Decided
- March 23, 2004
- Term
- October Term 2003
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Federal Taxation
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. Section 6501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code states that, except as otherwise provided, “the amount of any tax imposed by this title shall be assessed within 3 years after the return was filed . . . and no proceeding in court without assessment for the collection of such tax shall be begun after the expiration of such period.” 26 U. S. C. § 6501(a). If a tax is properly assessed within three years, however, the statute of limitations for the collection of the tax is extended by 10 years from the date of assessment. § 6502(a). We must decide in this case whether, in order for the United States to avail itself of the 10-year increase in the statute of limitations for collection of a tax debt, it must assess the taxes not only against a partnership that is directly liable for the debt, but also against each individual partner who might be jointly and severally liable for the debts of the partnership. Under California law a partnership maintains a separate identity from its general partners, and the partners are only secondarily liable for the tax debts of the partnership, as they are for any debt of the partnership. Because, in this case, the only relevant “taxpayer” for purposes of §§6501-6502 is the partnership, we hold that the proper assessment of the tax against the partnership suffices to extend the statute of limitations…
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