iStock_US HousekeyXSmallIn Osvaldo Rodriguez et al V. Commissioner, the fifth circuit court recently upheld the decision in a transaction involving inclusion of IRC 956 income with respect to the taxpayers’ Controlled Foreign Corporation (CFC) in Mexico.

Osvaldo and Ana Rodriguez, husband and wife, were citizens of Mexico and permanent residents of the United States. They were the sole shareholders of Editora Paso del Norte, S.A. de C.V. (Editora). Editora had been incorporated in 1976 under Mexican law and in 2001 had established operations in the U.S. as a branch under the name Editora Paso del Norte, S.A. de C.V., Inc. — a controlled foreign corporation (CFC).  On their amended 2003 and original 2004 U.S. federal income tax returns, the taxpayers included in gross income $1,585,527 and $1,478,202, respectively, for amounts of Editora’s earnings invested in U.S. property and taxable directly under IRC 951(a)(1)(B) and IRC 956.

Taxpayers treated the IRC 951 inclusions as qualified dividend income subject to preferential qualified dividend rates. IRS determined that the Code Sec. 951 inclusions were taxable at ordinary income rates.

The fifth circuit upheld the decision and ruled that the amounts included in the Rodriguez’s gross income under IRC 951(a)(1)(B) and IRC 956 with respect to their CFC’s investments in U.S. property were not qualified dividend income under IRC 1(h)(11).