Atkins v. Commissioner

28 B.T.A. 500, 1933 BTA LEXIS 1114
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedJune 22, 1933
DocketDocket Nos. 38519, 38520.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 28 B.T.A. 500 (Atkins 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
Atkins v. Commissioner, 28 B.T.A. 500, 1933 BTA LEXIS 1114 (bta 1933).

Opinion

[501]*501OPINION.

Smith:

These proceedings, consolidated for hearing, are for re-determination of the following deficiencies in income tax:

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J. B. Atkins died on October 28,1928. J. B. Atkins and Mrs. J. B. Atkins were members of a marital community, resident in Shreveport, Louisiana, from January 1 to October 28, 1923. Separate income tax returns were filed for each- — that for Mrs. J. B. Atkins covering the calendar year, and that for the decedent to the date of his death. In each return was reported one half of the income of the marital community and in the audit of the returns the respondent has found, without objection as to the period involved, the same deficiencies for each petitioner.

The issues involved in these proceedings are common to each petition, except that with respect to the eighth issue, which involves the question whether the respondent erred in disallowing the deduction from the community income of $118.31 representing interest accrued at the date of death of J. B. Atkins on October 28, 1923, which interest was paid by the estate of J. B. Atkins on November 8, 1928.

Some of the issues have been settled by stipulation of the parties, The issues not so settled will be considered in order.

(1) The income tax return of Mrs. J. B. Atkins and that filed by her for her deceased husband for 1923 show that in that year the taxpayers received $150,500 from the sale of shares of stock of the Shreveport-Eldorado Pipe Line Co. acquired in 1921 and 1923 at a cost of $11,500 — net profit $139,000. In the adjustment of the returns the respondent has increased the profit upon the sale of this stock in the amount of $4,900 by reducing the cost from $11,500 to $6,600. On brief the respondent admits that the reduction in the cost should be only $4,500, or, in other words, that the cost should be $7,000 for the shares sold.

The evidence shows that in 1923 the petitioner sold 2,100 shares of stock of the Shreveport-Eldorado Pipe Line Co. to Lilley, Blizzard & Co. of Philadelphia. The ledger of the decedent shows a cost for the shares of stock sold of $11,500; that on March 20,1923, the decedent acquired from his sister-in-law, Mrs. V. B. Terrett, 75 shares of this stock at $60 per share, total $4,500. The respondent contends that the decedent made an ineffectual transfer of these shares to his sister-in-law in a prior year and that the amount of $4,500 repre[502]*502sents a portion of the sale price which was eventually paid to Mrs. Terrett by the decedent’s executor. The evidence, however, is clearly to the contrary. The shares of stock stood in the name of Mrs. Ter-rett and she had acquired them from the decedent for a valuable consideration. The contentions of the petitioner upon this point are sustained.

(2) The above mentioned tax returns for 1923 likewise show that in that year the taxpayers sold for a consideration of $61,677.50 shares of stock of the Shreveport Producing & Refining Corporation acquired in 1920 at a cost of $209,604.82. The loss claimed in respect of this sale was $147,927.32, which the respondent has disallowed as a deduction from gross income. It is now contended in the light of the evidence that the cost of the shares was not $209,604.82 but was $170,393.50 and that the loss upon the alleged sale was $108,716.

The evidence upon this point is as follows:

On May 3, 1923, the decedent deposited in the Commercial National Bank of Shreveport a draft upon Lilley, Blizzard & Co. of Philadelphia, brokers, for $32,500 and attached thereto certificates of stock of the Shreveport Producing & Refining Corporation for 26,000 shares ($1.25 per share) ; also, on May 15, 1923, the decedent deposited a draft in the same bank on Lilley, Blizzard & Co. for $29,177.50 to which were attached certificates of Shreveport Producing & Refining Corporation for 23,342 shares; that on May 12, 1923, Atkins loaned to one B. H. Gray on his promissory note payable to the decedent 90 days from date, with interest at 6 per centum per annum, $32,760; that on the same date the decedent issued his check on the Commercial National Bank of Shreveport payable to B. H. Gray or order, in the amount of $32,760. This check bears a typewritten endorsement as follows: “ For Deposit To Credit Account B. H. Gray.” At that time B. H. Gray had an account with the City Savings Bank & Trust Co. ,of Shreveport, which showed a balance to his credit on May 12, 1923, of $113.12. This check was deposited in Gray’s account at this bank on May 12, 1923. On the same date B. H. Gray drew a sight draft on the City Savings Bank & Trust Co. in favor of the Commercial National Bank of Shreveport for $32,760. The draft was paid by the City Savings Bank & Trust Co. on the same day, May 12, 1923. On May 21, 1923, B. H. Gray gave his promissory note payable to J. B. Atkins 90 days after date, with interest at 6 per centum per annum, for $29,410.92. On the same day the decedent gave his check to B. H. Gray for $29,410.92 drawn on the Commercial National Bank of Shreveport, which was endorsed in writing: “For Deposit Acct. B. H. Gray.” B. H. Gray did not personally endorse this check and does not know who did. The check was deposited in the City Savings Bank & Trust Co. on May 21, 1923. On May 23, 1923, [503]*503Gray drew a check for $34,450.92 on his account in the City Savings Bank & Trust Co. payable to Commercial National Bank, which was paid by the City Savings Bank & Trust Co. on May 23, 1923.

The records of the Shreveport Producing & Refining Corporation show that certificates for 49,352 shares of Shreveport Producing & Refining Corporation stock, claimed to have been sold by the decedent to Lilley, Blizzard & Co. for $61,677.50, were surrendered for cancellation on May 15, 1923, that new certificates for 26,000 shares were issued to B. H. Gray on May 15, 1923, and that certificates for 27,342 shares were issued to him on May 23, 1923.

The above referred to 90-day notes given by Gray to the decedent were secured by the collateral of the 26,000 shares and the 27,342 shares claimed to have been acquired by Gray from Lilley, Blizzard & Co. The difference between the 23,342 shares claimed to have been sold to the brokers by the decedent and the 27,342 shares claimed by Gray to have been purchased from the brokers is accounted for by the fact that J. B. Atkins, Jr., at or about this time parted with 4,000 shares of this stock and these shares were acquired by Gray by the same transaction by which he acquired the 23,342 shares in question.

In 1921 B. H. Gray was an employee of the decedent. In 1923 he was employed by the Shreveport Producing & Refining Corporation at a salary of $6,000 per year. The decedent was president of that corporation. Gray’s income from other sources was not in excess of $1,000 a year. He could not have purchased the stock claimed to have been purchased by him without borrowing money for such purchase-

The notes given by Gray were not paid at maturity, but were canceled by Gray surrendering to the decedent the 53,342 shares given as collateral security for the notes.

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Related

Estate of Estroff v. Commissioner
1983 T.C. Memo. 666 (U.S. Tax Court, 1983)
Atkins v. Commissioner
28 B.T.A. 500 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1933)

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Bluebook (online)
28 B.T.A. 500, 1933 BTA LEXIS 1114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atkins-v-commissioner-bta-1933.