Chevron’s tax request denied

A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that oil giant Chevron Corp. wasn’t entitled to a $101-million tax refund that it claimed it was owed for payments made to the government by Texaco Inc. before the companies merged.

The payments were made to resolve claims by the Energy Department in 1988 that Texaco overcharged for petroleum. Texaco claimed that the settlement sums lowered its taxable income, but government lawyers argued that Texaco couldn’t deduct them if they related to refunds or repayments required by a government agency or court or “made in settlement of litigation.”