Ambac Financial Group Inc. drew first blood in the Chapter 11 reorganization begun Nov. 8 by suing to block the Internal Revenue Service from taking back $700 million in tax refunds already paid. Ambac said yesterday that the IRS, unless stopped, could scuttle the rehabilitation of Ambac Assurance Corp., the principal insurance subsidiary that was taken over by regulators in Wisconsin earlier this year. The IRS headed off an immediate conflict by agreeing not to take action to recover the refund without five days’ notice. Next year, the bankruptcy court is to decide if it has the power to stop the IRS from recovering the refund. Ambac said in papers filed in bankruptcy court in Manhattan that the refunds were turned over to AAC, the principal operating subsidiary. The IRS recently informed Ambac that it may re-assess tax liabilities and demand a return of refunds already paid. The Wisconsin insurance regulator already obtained help from the state court intended to block the IRS from levying on assets in the rehabilitation. Ambac is concerned that the IRS may believe it isn’t bound by the state court action. Rather than enjoining the IRS from taking back the refund, Ambac wanted the bankruptcy judge to enter an injunction requiring the IRS to give five days’ notice of any effort to recover the refunds. The IRS in effect agreed in a stipulation to be given the judge to sign. The complaint filed against the IRS also asks the bankruptcy judge to declare that Ambac has no tax liability for the years 2003 through 2008. Eventually, a sticking point for Ambac may be the Anti- Injunction Act, part of federal tax law that precludes any court from making an injunction to stop the collection or assessment of taxes. Ambac argues that the Anti-Injunction Act isn’t applicable in bankruptcy as the result of a provision in the Bankruptcy Code where the federal government waives sovereign immunity. Ambac filed under Chapter 11 after it was unable to work out a so-called prepackaged reorganization with the insurance commissioner and an ad hoc committee of holders of senior debt. Instead, it has a “non-binding term sheet” with the insurance commissioner, to be the “basis for further negotiations with the ad-hoc committee,” the company said in a court filing. Ambac’s petition listed liabilities on a non-consolidated basis of $1.69 billion, including $1.22 billion on six issues of senior unsecured notes and $400 million in subordinated notes. The Wisconsin regulator created a so-called special account in March for more than $57 billion in policies issued by AAC. The policies in the segregated account are for credit default swaps, residential mortgage-backed securities, the Las Vegas Monorail and some student loans. The remainder of AAC’s insurance policies aren’t in the state-court rehabilitation. AAC stopped paying dividends to Ambac in 2007 and stopped writing new business in mid-2008. The term sheet with the insurance regulator would allow Ambac to reorganize around the insurance business that isn’t in rehabilitation. Other assets to be kept by Ambac include some of the $7.5 billion in tax-loss carryforwards. The Wisconsin regulator proposed a rehabilitation plan for the special account under which holders of allowed claims would be paid 25 percent in cash and 75 percent in notes. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-10/ambac-black-crow-orleans-washington-times-hmp-bankruptcy.html Alles is noch offen. Taxrefunds ist momentan geblockt nicht mehr nicht weniger! Nächstes Jahr entscheidet sich das Insolvenzgericht über die Blockade von Taxrefunds und noch eine wichtige Info: Anfang des Jahres haben ambac und Wisconsin Regultor sich einigt, dass ambac (Other assets to be kept by Ambac include some of the $7.5 billion in tax-loss )übernehmen darf
|
Thread abonnieren
