Giant Eagle Inc v. Commissioner IRS

OPINION

ROTH, Circuit Judge:

Benjamin Franklin opined that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, *668except death and taxes.”1 But the advent of the “all events” test renders Franklin’s pronouncement at best partially correct.

The Tax Code does not limit the availability of deductions to expenses for which payment is certain. Rather, accrual method taxpayers are expressly permitted to deduct expenses before they are paid, so long as “all events have occurred which determine the fact of liability and the amount of such liability can be determined with reasonable accuracy.”2 A codified…