Adda, Inc. v. Commissioner

9 T.C. 199, 1947 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 124
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedAugust 18, 1947
DocketDocket No. 8883
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 9 T.C. 199 (Adda, Inc. v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adda, Inc. v. Commissioner, 9 T.C. 199, 1947 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 124 (tax 1947).

Opinion

OPINION.

Johnson, Judge:

In determining the deficiency for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1942, the Commissioner recomputed the amount deductible as a net operating loss for the taxable period ended June 30, 1941, making several adjustments not here in issue. Petitioner now asserts a right to two deductions not claimed or allowed, and the issues so raised will be considered.

1. The first involves petitioner’s right to deduct the full amount of $199,660 paid as real estate taxes for the year July 1,1940, to June 30, 1941, on the building which petitioner purchased on August 5, 1940, from the 1514 Broadway Corporation. On its income tax return it deducted only $180,803.22, and explains in an allegation of its petition that the remaining $18,856.78 was a “cost adjustment between it and the seller.” For reasons undisclosed the Commissioner increased the deduction claimed by $10,856.78, and petitioner, accepting this increase, now contends that the remaining $8,000, making up the full $199,660, is likewise deductible. While the unproved allegation of the petition that the $18,856.78 was a cost adjustment suggests that this part of the tax was constructively paid by the seller and not by petitioner, neither the stipulation nor the issue as framed and argued by the parties takes account of this possibility, and in our disposition of the question we shall assume, as the parties themselves have, that petitioner paid the tax of $199,660 without reimbursement of any part or any adjustment which might affect deductibility.

Decision of the issue as presented depends upon whether the taxes accrued or became a liability imposed upon the vendor prior to petitioner’s acquisition of the property. If such tax had accrued prior thereto, then it was a tax obligation of petitioner’s vendor and petitioner could not deduct same as taxes “paid or accrued,” even though paid by it, but tax payments by petitioner under such contingency would, for income tax purposes, be deemed part of the purchase price and an addititonal cost of the property. Magruder v. Supplee, 316 U. S. 394.

When did these taxes accrue? Petitioner says on October 1, 1940, when due, and as this was subsequent to its purchase of the property on August 5,1940, the taxes are deductible. Respondent contends the accrual date was prior to August 5,1940, to wit, when the real property assessment rolls were delivered to the proper officer, with warrants annexed, authorizing collection of the taxes.

Petitioner cites Robert LeRoy, 4 T. C. 70; affd. (C. C. A., 2d Cir.), 152 Fed. (2d) 936. There, as here, the taxes involved were New York City realty taxes imposed by the same law (New York City charter) for the same taxable year; the taxpayer there acquired title -to the realty on September 30, 1940, and on October 29, 1940, paid the first half of the city’s taxes due October 1, 1940, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1941, and the Commissioner disallowed the taxpayer’s claim for deduction on the ground that the taxes had been assessed against the property prior to the taxpayer’s acquisition and that liability thereby attached to the taxpayer’s vendor. The court affirmed our holding that the full amount of taxes paid by LeRoy was deductible, since on the date he acquired title to the realty there was neither a tax lien nor personal liability on the part of the seller to pay the tax.

Respondent contends that the LeRoy case is distinguishable, since there the seller was a nonresident of the taxable district in which the property was located, while petitioner’s vendor, the 1514 Broadway Corporation, had its sole office and place .of business within the same taxable district as the realty; its name was correctly entered on the assessment rolls; and, hence, under authority of section 71 of the tax laws of the State of New York, the 1514 Broadway Corporation was personally liable for the taxes.

Petitioner replies that its vendor was not personally liable for the taxes because (a) section 71 of the general tax law of the State of New York is not applicable to municipal real estate taxes imposed under the charter of New York City, which contains no provision for personal liability for real estate taxes, citing MacGregor v. Johnson-Cowdin, Emmerich, Inc., 39 Fed. (2d) 574, an opinion by Judge L. Hand; and (b), in the alternative, that even if section 71, imposing personal liability, is applicable to New York City taxes, under the facts in this case the taxes in question did not become due until October 1, and the tax lien did not attach until that date, which was subsequent to petitioner’s acquisition of the title; hence there could be no personal liability against petitioner’s vendor.

Petitioner’s first contention was not clearly determined in the LeRoy case, supra. The Tax Court’s opinion in passing thereon, after quoting the terms of section 71 of the general tax law, which had been cited and relied upon by respondent, used this language:

* * * It becomes unnecessary, however, for us to examine the evidence on this phase of the question, as in no event would personal liability for the amount of the taxes arise prior to the date of the attachment of the lien. Berri v. City of New York, 16 N. Y. S. (2d) 86; affd., 19 N. Y. S. 347; United States v. Certain Lands in the Borough of Brooklyn, 41 Fed. Supp. 51; cf. United States v. 44,549 Square Feet of Land in the Borough of Brooklyn, 41 Fed. Supp. 523.

The Second Circuit Court’s opinion in the LeRoy case, in disposing of this issue, said:

Just what is the nature of the tax liability of an owner of New York real estate is not always easily to be determined as is shown by the opinion of Judge L. Hand in McGregor v. Johnson, 2 Cir., 39 F. 2d 574. We need not decide that vexed question now for it is well settled that an owner who is a non-resident of the tax district in which the property is located is never personally liable. McGregor v. Johnson, supra. * * *

N» case decided by either state or Federal court has been cited by either party which passes directly or with finality upon whether section 71 of the general tax law of New York State, which imposes personal liability upon a resident taxpayer, is applicable to real estate taxes imposed by New York City under its special charter.

In MacGregor v. Johnson-Cowdin, Emmerich, Inc., supra, Judge L. Hand’s reasoning in effect holds that section 71 is not applicable, since the New York City charter provisions are in conflict with the general tax law, and there is no provision in the charter made for enforcing personal liability. He concludes that the charter, “which prescribes everything in detail * * * was presumably intended to be self-sufficient and no case has held the contrary.”

Judge Hand also quotes therein from opinions by Gaynor, J., “an expert in such tax matters,” who thought that personal liability did not exist. The opinion in MacGregor v. Johnson-Cowdin, Emmerich, Inc., expressly states, however, that the decision therein is based upon: (1) That the taxes involved are against a “non-resident” and therefore involved no personal liability, and (2), if personal liability, there was no way to enforce it, except by resort to the land.

More than 17 years have passed since Judge Hand, in MacGregor v.

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Adda, Inc. v. Commissioner
9 T.C. 199 (U.S. Tax Court, 1947)

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Bluebook (online)
9 T.C. 199, 1947 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adda-inc-v-commissioner-tax-1947.