Lois Anderson v. United States

Lois Anderson filed suit to recover a federal income tax refund for 1984. The sole issue before the district court was whether Anderson had filed a timely claim for refund. The district court held that she had, 746 F.Supp. 15 , and the government appeals. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1988) and affirm the district court’s decision.

BACKGROUND

Anderson asserts that on September 15, 1986 she mailed her 1984 federal tax return to the IRS requesting a refund. According to the IRS, that return was never received. When Anderson filed her 1985 federal income tax return, also late, she asked the IRS to apply her 1984 refund to her 1985 income tax obligation and return the balance to her.

According to the IRS, it did not receive Anderson’s 1985 tax return until January 1988. In December 1988, the IRS contacted Anderson to inform her that the 1984 tax return was never received. Anderson then mailed a copy of the 1984 return that she said was filed on September 15, 1986. The IRS received that copy in late December 1988. But the IRS refused to accept Anderson’s assertion that she had filed her 1984 return before April 15, 1988, the date on which the three-year statute of…