US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

Revised Statutes, § 3226, providing that no suit shall be maintained for recovery of illegal or erroneous taxes until appeal made to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and decision had thereon, and fixing a period within which suit may be brought when his decision is delayed more than six months, was made applicable by § 31 of the War Revenue Act of June 13, 1898, 30 Stat. 448, 464, to inheritance taxes collected under that act. P. 249 U. S. 507.

As applied to a claim for a refund of such inheritance taxes, this bar of Rev.Stats. § 3226, and the bar of § 3228, which requires all claims for the refunding of erroneous or illegal internal taxes to be presented to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue within two years next after the cause of action accrued, were removed by the Acts of June 27, 1902, c. 1160, § 3, 32 Stat. 406, and of July 27, 1912, c. 256, 37 Stat. 240, if the claimant complied with their requirements and presented his claim to the Commissioner. Id.

The fact that a tax was voluntarily paid without protest is not an impediment to a refund under the Act of July 27, 1912, supra. United States v. Hvoslef, 237 U. S. 1. P. 249 U. S. 508.

The Act of July 27, 1912, supra, § 2, in providing that repayment shall be made to "such claimants as have presented or shall hereafter present their claims," requires a positive and individual assertion of the claim within the time limited; the claimant may not rely upon claims presented by others not manifestly his own or clearly made on his behalf, nor excuse the presentation of his claim upon the assumption that it would have been useless, judged by results in other cases. Id.

52 Ct.Clms. 72, 285, affirmed.

The case is stated in the opinion. chanrobles.com-red

Page 249 U. S. 504