New York Life Insurance v. United States

SUSAN L. CARNEY, Circuit Judge:

This case concerns the timing of two deductions that New York Life Insurance Company (“New York Life” or the “Company”), a calendar-year, accrual-basis taxpayer, claimed on its federal income tax returns for tax years 1990 through 1995. In its returns for each of those years, the Company deducted the amounts of two types of policyholder dividends that it treated as accrued expenses in the tax years at issue, but which it did not pay until the following years. The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS” or the “Service”) disallowed the deductions, ruling that the Company…