§4612 Definitions and Special Rules

Summary

Sets rules and meanings for words and special tax rules used in this part of the tax code. It defines key terms in one line each: "crude oil" (includes crude oil condensates and natural gasoline); "domestic crude oil" (oil from a well in the United States); "petroleum product" (includes crude oil); "United States" (the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. possessions, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and U.S. foreign trade zones; rules in section 638 also apply); "United States refinery" (any U.S. plant that refines crude oil); "premises" (same meaning as used in section 613 about property income); "barrel" (42 U.S. gallons), and fractions of a barrel are taxed in the same fraction. No tax under section 4611 is charged again on a product if that tax was already paid. The Secretary can write rules about what happens if a refinery operator removes oil from a pipeline and then puts part of it back into the same pipeline stream. Taxpayers can get a credit against the section 4611 tax equal to prior amounts they paid before January 1, 1987, into two older oil liability funds plus interest, minus credits already used. That credit also counts as a current business credit for section 38, subject to limits tied to certain earlier payments and to assumptions about transfers on January 1, 1990 and the termination date in section 4611(f)(1). The Secretary must transfer money from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to the Treasury to cover these credits, but only when the fund’s unused balance is over $1,000,000,000. Rules in section 7652(a)(3) and (b)(3) do not apply to taxes under section 4611.