United States v. Friendship College, Inc., in Re Friendship College, Inc., Debtor

DONALD RUSSELL, Circuit Judge:

This case of first impression requires us to interpret the Bankruptcy Reform Act’s (hereafter the Act) treatment of taxes withheld by a bankrupt employer from its5 employees’ wages, but never paid by the bankruptcy estate to the Internal Revenue Service. The question is whether, as the government argued, these taxes are payable as a first priority administrative expense out of the bankruptcy estate, or merely as a sixth priority tax liability, as the bankruptcy trustee contended. For the reasons stated below, we find that the taxes in question, as well as the…