Commissioner v. Lundy

Justice Stevens,

dissenting.

Justice Thomas has cogently explained why the judgment of the Court of Appeals should be affirmed. I therefore join his opinion. Because one point warrants further emphasis, I add this additional comment. In my view the Commissioner’s position, and that of the majority, misses the forest by focusing on the trees. The predecessor to 26 U. S. C. § 6512(b) was amended to protect the interests of a taxpayer who receives a notice of deficiency from the IRS and later determines that the asserted underpayment was in fact an overpayment. Post, at 261-262. Congress expressly intended to guard against the possibility that the time for claiming a refund might lapse before the taxpayer in these circumstances realizes that he is entitled to claim a refund. As Justice Thomas has demonstrated, there is no need to read § 6512(b)(3)(B) — a provision designed to benefit the taxpayer who receives an unexpected deficiency notice— as giving the IRS an arbitrary right to shorten the taxpayer’s period for claiming a refund if that taxpayer has not yet filed a return. The Court’s reading of the statute converts an intended benefit into a handicap.