as income even though most of it will be disbursed for deductible expenses. The result of accepting the Commissioner's position would be that the insurance company would have a greater tax liability on unpaid premiums than if the premiums had actually been paid. This result is also unacceptable. Third, some Courts of Appeals have extended the fiction somewhat further to include an assumption that certain expenses associated with the unpaid premiums have been incurred.23 These courts allow a deduction for some expenses such as salesmen's commissions, which are payable upon receipt of the premium. It is not clear, however, precisely what expenses would receive this treatment. The approach adopted by these courts eliminates much of the unfairness of the Commissioner's position. But their approach would take us far from the statute. Since there is nothing in the statute directing that any portion of unpaid loading be treated as an asset or as income, the statute obviously cannot provide guidance in fashioning a set of deductions to be credited against the fictional assumption that such loading is income. The fourth approach, in contrast, does have support in the statute. This approach has been adopted by the NAIC for the purpose of preparing the Annual Statement, and therefore is firmly anchored in the text of § 818 (a) which establishes a preference for NAIC accounting methods."" Under this view, the net valuation portion of the unpaid 23 Great Commonwealth Life Ins. Co. v. United States, 491 F. 2d 109 (CA5 1974); Federal Life Ins. Co. v. United States, 527 F. 2d 1096 (CA7 1975); North American Life & Cas. Co. v. Commissioner, 533 F. 2d 1046 (CA8 1976). 24 Evidence of congressional respect for NAIC accounting methods is not limited to the portion of the Code concerning life insurance companies. In defining "gross income" and "expenses incurred" for purposes of taxing certain other insurance companies, Congress expressly requires computations to follow "the annual statement approved by the National Convention of Insurance Commissioners." 26 U. S. C. §§ 832 (b)(1)(A), (b)(6). premiums is included in reserves, assets, and gross premium income, while the loading portion is entirely excluded.25 This approach might be described as adopting the fictional assumption that the net valuation portion of the premium has been paid, but that the loading portion has not. This accounting treatment has been consistently applied throughout the industry for decades, and was regarded as the correct approach by the Tax Court when it first confronted this problem area. Western Nat. Life Ins. Co. of Texas v. Commissioner, 51 T. C. 824 (1969), modifying 50 T. C. 285 (1968), rev'd, 432 F. 2d 298 (CA5 1970). By including the net valuation portion of the unpaid premium—and only that portion-on both sides of the relevant equations, it satisfies in large measure the Commissioner's quest for symmetry. It also avoids the uncertainty and confusion that would attend any attempt to segregate unpaid loading into deductible and nondeductible parts. Finally, it provides a practical rule which should minimize the likelihood of future disputes. Under § 818 (a), rejection of the NAIC approach would be justified only if it were found inconsistent with the dictates of accrual accounting. But the general rules of accrual accounting simply do not speak to the question of the scope to be given the entirely fictional assumption required by this statute. Any one of the four approaches has an equally good-or equally bad-claim to being "an accrual method." Since general accounting rules are not controlling, the statute requires use of the NAIC approach to fill the gap.26 25 The American Council of Life Insurance has filed a brief as amicus curiae and made oral argument urging adoption of this position. 26 The first Court of Appeals to consider this argument rejected it on the ground that Congress would not have intended "to relegate the substantive matter of offsetting or excluding loading on deferred and uncollected premiums, with its concomitant impact on the resulting tax, to the NAIC." Franklin Life Ins. Co. v. United States, 399 F. 2d, at 760. We think that §818 (a) gives the NAIC precisely this role of filling the gaps in the statutory treatment of accounting problems like this one. 148 WHITE, J., concurring in judgment Accordingly, we conclude that unpaid premiums must be reflected in the computation of respondent's tax liabilities "in a manner consistent with the manner required for purposes of the annual statement approved by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners." To the extent that the Secretary's regulations require different treatment of unpaid premiums, we hold that they are inconsistent with § 818 (a) and therefore invalid. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. It is so ordered. MR. JUSTICE STEWART took no part in the consideration or decision of this case. MR. JUSTICE WHITE, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE joins, concurring in the judgment. Regretfully, I cannot join the Court's opinion. The Tax Court's position, which the Court of Appeals rejected, was mandated by the applicable Treasury Regulations, 26 CFR §§ 1.805–5 (a) (4) (ii) and 1.809–4 (a), (i) (1976). These Regulations, invalidated by the Court of Appeals and now partially by this Court, appear to me to represent a wholly defensible construction of the statute, and we should not refuse to follow it simply because we prefer an alternative reading. The first sentence of § 818 (a) provides that all computations shall be pursuant to the accrual method of accounting or, to the extent permitted by the Secretary, under a combination of the accrual method and any other method permitted by the chapter. The second sentence of the section provides that except as provided in the first sentence, all computations shall be consistent with the method required by the annual statement provided by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). As the majority recognizes, under WHITE, J., concurring in judgment 433 U.S. normal accrual accounting methods "unpaid premiums would simply be ignored"; because "the company has no legal right to collect them," ante, at 150, they are mere expectancies and could not be accrued. It is thus a departure from the accrual method of accounting to reflect any part of unpaid premiums in reserves, assets, or income. Under § 818, it seems to me that if there is to be a variance from the accrual method, it is the Secretary who is empowered to say to what extent other methods should be recognized. The section does authorize resort to the NAIC approach in some circumstances, but I do not understand the statute, as the majority does, to prefer the NAIC approach to that of the Secretary. As I understand the statute, the Secretary's regulations are valid and should be followed in this case. As the Tax Court held, all of the unpaid premium, not just the premium less "load," should be reflected in assets and gross premium income. Hence, although I agree that the judgment of the Court of Appeals should be reversed, I cannot join the Court's opinion. Syllabus PUYALLUP TRIBE, INC., ET AL. v. DEPARTMENT OF GAME OF WASHINGTON ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF WASHINGTON No. 76-423. Argued April 18, 1977-Decided June 23, 1977 After protracted litigation the Washington Superior Court entered a judgment against petitioner Puyallup Tribe reciting that the court possessed jurisdiction to regulate the Tribe's fishing activities both off and on its reservation, and limiting the number of steelhead trout that tribal members might net in the Puyallup River each year, and the Tribe was directed to file a list of members authorized to exercise treaty fishing rights, and to report to respondent Washington Department of Game and to the court the number of steelhead caught by the treaty fishermen each week. The Washington Supreme Court affirmed, with a slight modification. The Tribe contends that the doctrine of sovereign immunity requires that the judgment be vacated; that the state courts have no jurisdiction to regulate fishing activities on the reservation; and that, in any event, the limitation on the steelhead catch is not a necessary conservation measure. Held: 1. Absent an effective waiver or consent, a state court may not exercise jurisdiction over a recognized Indian tribe, but tribal sovereign immunity here does not impair the Superior Court's authority to adjudicate the rights of individual tribal members over whom it properly obtained personal jurisdiction, Puyallup Tribe v. Washington Game Dept., 391 U. S. 392 (Puyallup I), and hence only those portions of the judgment that involve relief against the Tribe itself must be vacated in order to honor the Tribe's valid claim of immunity. Pp. 168-173. 2. Neither the Tribe nor its members have an exclusive right, under the Treaty of Medicine Creek, to take steelhead passing through the reservation. It not only appears that the Tribe, pursuant to Acts of Congress passed after the treaty was entered into, alienated in fee simple absolute all areas of the reservation abutting on the Puyallup River, but, moreover, the Tribe's treaty right to fish "at all usual and accustomed places" is to be exercised "in common with all citizens of the Territory," Puyallup I, supra, at 398, and is subject to reasonable regulation by the State pursuant to its power to conserve an important natural resource. The fair apportionment of the steelhead catch between Indian net fishing and non-Indian sport fishing directed by Washington Game Dept. v. Puyallup Tribe, 414 U. S. 44 (Puyallup II), |