Rev. Rul. 55-708

Advice has been requested whether tobacco tax stamps purchased prior to January 1, 1955, are to be redeemed, or the value thereof refunded, under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 or the 1954 Code.

Section 2198 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 provides, with respect to stamps affixed to packages of tobacco products withdrawn from the market, that the stamps so used may be redeemed if claim is presented by the manufacturer or importer within three years after the year of issue, irrespective of the date of their purchase. It provides also that stamps of any issue shall not be sold until those of the previous year's issue have been disposed of or later than one year after the year of issue. Section 3304 of the 1939 Code provides that, except for stamps covered by section 2198, no claim for the redemption of, or allowance for, stamps shall be allowed unless presented within four years after the purchase of such stamps from the Government.

Under section 6805 of the 1954 Code, a claim for redemption must be presented within three years from the date of purchase of the stamps from the Government.

The question here involved relates to the periods of limitation on the filing of claims for redemption of stamps purchased under the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 where such claims are filed subsequent to the date of enactment of the 1954 Code, and it is equally applicable in the case of claims for refund of taxes incurred or paid under the 1939 Code but which were filed subsequent to enactment of the 1954 Code.

It is held that the provisions of sections 5705, 6511, and 6805 of the 1954 Code, with respect to limitations, apply only to taxes imposed by such Code and that the provisions of the 1939 Code relating to limitations continue to apply with respect to taxes imposed, or stamps issued, under the 1939 Code. Accordingly, tobacco products tax stamps purchased prior to January 1, 1955, which are affixed to tobacco products withdrawn from the market, are redeemable in accordance with the provisions of section 2198 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939. Similar stamps purchased prior to January 1, 1955, which are spoiled, destroyed, or rendered useless or unfit for the purpose intended, or for which the owner may have no use, or which through mistake may have been improperly or unnecessarily used, etc., are redeemable under the provisions of section 3304 of the 1939 Code. Tobacco products tax stamps purchased on or after January 1, 1955, the effective date of the 1954 Code with respect to tobacco taxes, are redeemable in accordance with the provisions of that Code.

To further illustrate, the provisions of section 322 of the 1939 Code would apply to a claim for refund of income tax for the calendar year 1952, whether such claim is filed before or after the date of the enactment of the 1954 Code, and the four-year period of limitations provided by section 3313 of the 1939 Code for the filing of claims for refund of excise taxes will apply to a claim for refund with respect to a return of manufactures' excise taxes filed for the fourth quarter of 1954 (the tax for such period being imposed by the 19-39 Code), even though the return for such quarter is not due until January 1955