Archer v. Commissioner

37 B.T.A. 299, 1938 BTA LEXIS 1053
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedFebruary 9, 1938
DocketDocket Nos. 64163, 64165-64168, 64171-64173.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 37 B.T.A. 299 (Archer 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
Archer v. Commissioner, 37 B.T.A. 299, 1938 BTA LEXIS 1053 (bta 1938).

Opinion

OPINION.

Smith:

These proceedings, consolidated for hearing, involve income tax deficiencies for 1929 as follows:

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[300]*300The petitioners, residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and vicinity, are beneficiaries of the Archer Trust, which was created in 1919. The income of the trust was distributable annually. The questions in issue relate to the determination of the net income of the Archer Trust for 1929. The petitioners allege as errors in the determination of the net income of the trust the following disallowances by the respondent:

(a) Losses on sale of securities owned by the trust of $294,266.12.
(b) Loss of $33,000 paid by the trust to carry out and make good the act of Shreve M. Archer in endorsing as an agent of the trust and for its accommodation certain paper of Healy-Owen-Hartzel Co., in which company the trust was interested.
(c) Loss of $69,000 on sale of stock owned by the trust in the Capital National Bank of St. Paul.

By an amended answer in the case of each petitioner the respondent alleges that he erred in considering the profit on the sale by the trust of 444.6 shares of Northwest Bancorporation stock taxable under the capital gain provisions of the Revenue Act of 1928, instead of taxing it as ordinary income, and claims an increased deficiency due from each petitioner by reason of such mistake.

The points in issue will be considered in order.

A. — Loss of $894, 866.18 on Sale of Securities Owned by the Trust.

Findings of Fact. — On January 1, 1919, members of the Archer family created by written instrument a trust, hereinafter designated the Archer Trust, and transferred to it certain property for administration by the trustees under the terms of the trust instrument. In 1929 the Archer Trust sold over $3,000,000 worth of securities, realizing gains upon some sales and losses upon others.

During the latter part of the year 1929 the trust desired to sell additional securities. Prices of securities were greatly depressed. The trust found a purchaser for the securities in the person of Doris C. Archer, one of the beneficiaries.

At the time Doris C. Archer owned securities of a value between $200,000 and $300,000. On December 31, 1928, she had to her credit on the books of the trust an additional amount of $254,557.12. This was her absolute property, which she was entitled to withdraw at any time. During 1929 she had credited to her account an additional sum, as income from the trust, amounting to $77,560.22,, making a total credit to her account of $332,117.34. This was her absolute property, which she had the right to withdraw at any time.

In November or December of 1929 the trust sold to Doris C. Archer, at the then market prices, securities for $384,053.50. The trust sustained a loss upon the sale of the securities amounting to $294,266.12. [301]*301In its return for 1929 the trust deducted from gross income this loss of $294,266.12, which has been disallowed by the respondent in determining the net income of the trust.

Doris C. Archer paid for the securities in part with the credit standing to her account upon the books of the trust. The balance of the money necessary to pay for the securities purchased from the trust was given to her by her husband, Shreve M. Archer, one of the trustees. Certificates for all of the securities thus purchased by Doris C. Archer were delivered to her in 1929 by the trust and deposited by her in her own safety deposit box. In most instances the securities were transferred into her name upon the books of the corporation which had issued them in 1929. In a few instances, however, the transfer was not made of record on the books of the issuing corporation until after the close of 1929.

There was no agreement or understanding between Doris C. Archer and the trustees, or any other person, that the securities thus purchased by her would ever be reacquired by the trust. It was the intention of the trustees to part with all right, title, and interest in and to the securities sold. The sales were bona fide and the trust sustained a loss upon the sales in the amount of $294,266.12.

Opinion. — The reason for the disallowance by the respondent of the claimed loss of $294,266.12 upon the sale of securities to Doris C. Archer is not entirely clear. There is nothing in the record which indicates that the sales were not bona fide.

The mere fact that the purchaser was a beneficiary of the trust selling the securities can not invalidate an otherwise valid sale. There is nothing illegal in a beneficiary purchasing securities frpm a trust. Hartford-Connecticut Trust Co. v. United States, 10 Fed.Supp. 179. In that case the District Court said:

The contention of the defendant that the transaction was a sham because the parties to the sale were trustee and life beneficiary of the trust estate, and the subject-matter was an item belonging to the trust corpus, is without merit. For the principles of general jurisprudence and the Revenue Act itself alike treat the trust as a separate entity. * * *

To the same effect see Terry v. United States, 10 Fed. Supp. 183; Marston v. Commissioner (C. C. A., 2d Cir.), 75 Fed. (2d) 936; Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr., 14 B. T. A. 194; Ida C. Calloway et al., Executors, 18 B. T. A. 1059; Budd v. Commissioner, 43 Fed. (2d) 509.

We do not think it material that Shreve M. Archer furnished a part of the funds for the purchase of the securities. Upon the authority of the above cited cases sales to the trustee would have had the same validity as sales to a stranger.

In his brief the respondent contends that the petitioners have fallen down upon their proof as to the amount of the claimed losses [302]*302in that they have not shown the cost to the trust of the securities sold. The respondent states :

In determining a loss on the sale of securities it is elemental that the cost thereof must be established by competent evidence. Petitioners in their brief make no reference whatever to the details of the acquisition of these stocks nor is any reference made to the costs thereof. Evidently petitioners rest upon the ledger sheets of the Archer Trust as proof of the cost of the stocks here in question. These were introduced by petitioners’ witness H. E. Hyre, a public accountant in Minneapolis who first became accountant for the Archer Trust in 1927. Respondent submits that these ledger sheets have no probative value in showing the cost of the several securities here involved. * * *

Neither in the deficiency notice nor at the hearing of these proceedings was any question raised by the respondent as to the correctness of the accounts of the Archer Trust as showing the losses sustained upon the sale of the securities. There is nothing to indicate that the respondent questioned the correctness of the net income of the Archer Trust as shown by its books of account in respect of the sales of nearly three million dollars worth of securities in 1929 sold to others than Doris C. Archer. There is nothing to indicate that the books of account of the Archer Trust did not properly reflect the cost to the trust of all of the securities sold.

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Related

Archer v. Commissioner
37 B.T.A. 299 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1938)

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Bluebook (online)
37 B.T.A. 299, 1938 BTA LEXIS 1053, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/archer-v-commissioner-bta-1938.