Giant Eagle v. Commissioner — tax — reversal — Roth

A supermarket offered its customers a discount on gas purchases: for every $50 spent on groceries, they got 10 cents off a future gas purchase. Naturally, at the end of the tax year, there were customers who had earned a gas discount but had not yet redeemed it. In its taxes, the supermarket claimed those earned-but-not-yet-redeemed discounts as deductions, reducing the total amount outstanding by past redemption rates. The IRS and the tax court disallowed the deductions, but today a divided Third Circuit reversed, ruling in the supermarket’s favor.

Joining Roth was Fisher; Hardiman dissented. Both opinions are excellent. Arguing counsel were Robert Barnes of Marcus & Shapira for the supermarket and Julie Avetta (who had quite a wedding announcement) for the government.