Truck Part Seller Sues IRS to Abate $5.47 Million in Excise Tax

A Nebraska truck parts seller asked a federal court to abate its nearly $5.47 million excise tax liability and refund the $232,000 it paid toward that total after an alleged wrongful IRS assessment.

Elkhorn Valley Trucks LLC says the IRS wrongfully assessed the multimillion-dollar tax liability based on a mistaken interpretation of its business model.

Elkhorn shouldn’t be liable to pay the IRS’s excise tax assessment because it doesn’t manufacture refabricated trucks, its lawsuit said. Rather, its parts are fabricated by a third-party—the customer—into a complete truck, Elkhorn told the US District Court for the District of Nebraska.

If the ...