American Nat'l Realty Co. v. Commissioner

47 B.T.A. 653, 1942 BTA LEXIS 666
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedSeptember 8, 1942
DocketDocket No. 106414.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 47 B.T.A. 653 (American Nat'l Realty Co. v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Board of Tax Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Nat'l Realty Co. v. Commissioner, 47 B.T.A. 653, 1942 BTA LEXIS 666 (bta 1942).

Opinion

OPINION.

Black :

The Commissioner determined deficiencies of $2,823.28 and $15,227.97 in petitioner’s income tax for the years 1988 and 1939,-respectively. He also determined a deficiency of $216.20 in petitioner’s excess profits tax for the year 1939.

These deficiencies are due to several adjustments made by the Commissioner in the income tax returns filed by petitioner for the years 1938 and 1939. Petitioner contests only two of these adjustments, and as to them it assigns error as follows:

I. The Commissioner erred in determining the adjusted cost basis of land sold in 1938 by reducing Petitioner’s cost price by the amount of depletion. Petitioner deducted in its income tax returns in prior years of 27½% of the bonuses received from mineral leases on the land and in holding that Petitioner derived a taxable gain from the sale of $7,641.11 instead of $67.87.
[654]*654■ II. The undisputed facts being that Petitioner during the years 1030 to 1936 inclusive deducted in its income tax returns for said years depreciation on cattle purchased for breeding purposes and that during each of said years Petitioner had net income tax losses in excess of the depreciation deducted for each year, the Commissioner erred in determining the adjusted cost basis of the cattle sold in 1039 by deducting from the actual cost Petitioner’s depreciation reserve set up thereon for the years 1930 to 1936 inclusive.

The facts have all been stipulated, and we adopt the facts so stipulated as our findings of fact. A summary of these facts will suffice for the discusshm which follows.

Petitioner is a corporation, duly incorporated under the laws of the State of Texas, with its principal office in Galveston, Texas, and it filed its income and excess profits tax returns for the taxable years 1938 and 1939 on a calendar year basis with the collector of internal revenue for the first district of Texas, at Austin, Texas.

Adjusted, Cost Basis of Lanid Sold in 1938.

In 1922 petitioner purchased 2,139 acres of land in Matagorda County, Texas, for $21,331.33. At that time the land had no independent mineral cost and petitioner carried none on its books. ' During the years 1936 and 1937 petitioner leased the land in question for mineral purposes and received bonuses therefrom amounting to $27,539.05.' Petitioner reported the bonuses as income for the two years in question and took percentage depletion of 27½ percent thereon aggregating $7,573.24 as deductions from gross income, which deductions were allowed by the Commissioner for the respective years. The amounts of the bonuses received and the amounts of depletion deductions taken and allowed thereon are as follows:

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In 1938 petitioner sold the land, including its interest in the oil leases, for $21,399.20. The leases were still in effect on December 31, 1938, and there was no production of minerals under the leases prior to that date.

' Petitioner computed a capital gain from the sale of said land of $67.87, being the difference between the sale price in 1938 of $21,399.20 and the cost in 1922 of $21,331.33. The Commissioner adjusted the basis of $21,331.33 to $13,758.09, a difference of $7,573.24, being the • amount of the depletion deducted and allowed in the two prior years, ■ and determined a capital gain of $7,641.11 on the sale of the land.

[655]*655 Adjusted Cost Basis of Cattle Bold in 1939.

During the years 1930 to 1939, inclusive, petitioner purchased cattle for breeding purposes at a cost aggregating $124,254.13. During the year 1939 petitioner sold all of its cattle for $92,369.50. For the years 1930 to 1938, inclusive, petitioner, using a depreciation basis instead of an inventory basis, charged off depreciation on its cattle aggregating $105,210.29, which was deducted from gross income'in its income tax returns for the respective years. The amounts of depreciation so deducted were reasonable and have never been adjusted by the Commissioner for any of said years. At the time the cattle were sold the aggregate amount of $105,210.29 appeared and was carried on petitioner’s books of account as a reserve for depreciation. The years 1937 and 1938 are admitted to be gain years, and petitioner does not contest the propriety of adjusting the cost of cattle by the amounts of depreciation taken and allowed for those years, which amounts aggregated $11,632.17. During the years 1930 to 1936, inclusive, petitioner had net losses for income tax purposes in excess of the amount of depreciation on cattle deducted from gross income for the respective years. These latter amounts aggregated $93,578.12.

In determining the deficiency for the year 1939 the Commissioner determined that the depreciation claimed of $105,210.29, including the $93,573.12 claimed for the years 1930 to 1936 on the cattle in prior years, was reasonable, based upon the useful life of the cattle, and constituted an allowable deduction, which must be taken into consideration in computing the gain or loss from the sale of the cattle. The Commissioner, thus determined a net gain of $73,325.66 from the sale of the cattle in 1939. The method used by the Commissioner in determining such gain is as follows:

Cattle sales, 1939-$32,389. 50
•Cost --$124,254.13
Less: Depreciation sustained 1930 to 1938, inclusive_ 105,210. 29
Unrecovered cost- 19,043. 84
Profit realized-$73,325.66
Loss claimed on income tax return- 14,400. 71
Adjustment- 87,726. 37

We shall first take up assignment of error I. We think the issue raised by this assignment of error must be decided in favor of the respondent. When property is sold by a taxpayer the statute requires that certain adjustments shall be made to cost in arriving at the taxpayer’s gain or loss on the transaction.

[656]*656Section 113 of the Revenue Act of 1938 deals with the adjusted basis for determining gain or loss. The pertinent parts of that statute are printed in the margin.1

In the year 1922 the petitioner purchased 2,139 acres of land in Matagorda County, Texas, for the sum of $21,331.33. During the taxable years 1936 and 1931 petitioner granted certain mineral leases on the land and received bonus payments therefrom in the aggregate amount of $27,539.05. The amounts of these bonuses were reported by petitioner as gross income for the years 1936 and 1937, and deductions for depletion thereon aggregating $7,573.24 were taken by it at the rate of 27½ percent, permitted under the provisions of law applicable for those years, which deductions were allowed by the Commissioner. In the taxable year 1938 petitioner sold the land, including its interest in the leases, for $21,399.20. It is stipulated that in 1922, when petitioner acquired the land in question, it had no independent mineral cost and petitioner carried none on its books and that the sale of the land which petitioner made in 1938 also included its interest in the oil leases. The total original cost to petitioner of its combined interest'in the land and oil leases sold was $21,331.33. Petitioner was allowed in 1936 and 1937 percentage depletion aggregating $7,573.24 on the oil bonuses which it received.

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Related

Orozco v. Commissioner
1994 T.C. Memo. 407 (U.S. Tax Court, 1994)
American Nat'l Realty Co. v. Commissioner
47 B.T.A. 653 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1942)

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Bluebook (online)
47 B.T.A. 653, 1942 BTA LEXIS 666, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-natl-realty-co-v-commissioner-bta-1942.