Baruch v. Commissioner

11 T.C. 96, 1948 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 118
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJuly 29, 1948
DocketDocket No. 15868
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 11 T.C. 96 (Baruch 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
Baruch v. Commissioner, 11 T.C. 96, 1948 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 118 (tax 1948).

Opinion

OPINION.

Black, Judge:

The Commissioner has determined deficiencies in petitioner’s income tax of $4,430.58 for*1943 and $12,249.84 for 1944. The petitioner alleges that the Commissioner erred in his determination of these deficiencies by:

(a) The disallowance of a net operating loss deduction in the amount of $43,565.76 for the calendar year 1943, attributable to a net operating loss carryover resulting from a net operating loss for the calendar year 1942; or in the alternative by failing to allow said deduction to the extent of the gross income as alleged in paragraph 5 (c) hereof.
(b) The disallowance of a net operating loss deduction in the amount of $28,355.57 for the calendar year 1944 attributable to a net operating loss carryover resulting from a net operating loss for the calendar year 1942.

The facts are stipulated and may be summarized as follows:

The petitioner is an individual, with principal office in New York City.

The returns for the periods here involved were filed with the collector of internal revenue for the second district of New York.

In 1917 the petitioner purchased a livestock and produce farm at White Marsh, Virginia. On May 8,1942, the petitioner sold the farm, consisting of land, buildings, machinery, and equipment, for $105,000 and incurred a net loss on the sale in the amount of $61,163.33. From the time of the purchase up to the time of the sale on May 8,1942, the petitioner operated this farm as a business regularly carried on by him.

During the calendar year 1942 the petitioner received gross taxable income amounting to $18,231.66. No part of this amount was derived from or in any way connected with his farm. For the calendar year 1942 petitioner had deductions (not including any net operating loss carry-over from any year) amounting to $75,279.29. This amount included the sum of $61,163.33 representing the net loss on the sale of his farm. For this year the excess of the deductions over petitioner’s gross taxable income amounted to $57,047.63. The petitioner also received nontaxable income in 1942 in the amount of $3,407.17.

During the calendar year 1943 the petitioner received gross taxable income amounting to $19,764.01, no part of which was derived from his farm, and he had deductions (not including any net operating loss carry-over from any year) amounting to $4,522.54, the difference representing net taxable income amounting to $15,241.47. The petitioner also received nontaxable income in 1943 in the amount of $3,406.79.

Upon the assumption that the net loss referred to above is includible in determining any net operating loss carry-over, after making the adjustments required by the provisions of section 122 (d) (1), (2), (3), (4), and (6) of the Internal Revenue Code, and after deducting the amount of the petitioner’s net income for the calendar year 1941 (computed as required by section 122 (b) (2) of the Internal Revenue Code), the excess of deductions over gross income for the calendar year 1942 resulted in a net operating loss carry-over to the calendar year 1943 and a net operating loss deduction for the calendar year 1943 amounting to $43,565.76. The Commissioner does not concede, however, that the net loss from the sale of the farm in 1942 is in-cludible in determining any net operating loss carry-over and his determination of a tax deficiency for the calendar year 1943 resulted solely from his exclusion of the entire amount of this net loss of $61,163.33 as a deduction in determining any net operating loss carryover from the calendar year 1942 to the calendar year 1943.

Upon the assumption that the net loss referred to above is includible in determining any net operating loss carry-over, after making the adjustments required by the provisions of section 122 (d) (1), (2), (3), (4), and (6) of the Internal Revenue Code, and after deducting the amount of the petitioner’s net income for the calendar years 1941 and 1943 (computed as required by section 122 (b) (2) of the Internal Revenue Code), the excess of deductions over gross income for the calendar year 1942 resulted in a net operating loss carry-over to the calendar year 1944 and a net operating loss deduction for the calendar year 1944 amounting to $28,355.57. The Commissioner does not concede, however, that the net loss from the sale of the farm in 1942 is includible in determining any net operating loss carry-over, and his determination of a tax deficiency for the calendar year 1944 resulted solely from his exclusion of the entire amount of said net loss of $61,163.33 as a deduction in determining any net operating loss carryover from the calendar year 1942 to the calendar year 1944.

We first take up petitioner’s main contention, which is that his net loss of $61,163.33 from the sale of his farm in 1942 was a net operating loss deduction within the meaning of section 122 of the code and that it is not limited by the provisions of subsection (d) (5) of that section, which reads:

(d) Exceptions, Additions, and Limitations. — The exceptions, additions, and limitations referred to in subsections (a), (b),and (c) shall be as follows:
*******
(5) Deductions otherwise allowed by law not attributable to the operation of a trade or business regularly carried on by the taxpayer shall (in the case of a taxpayer other than a corporation) be allowed only to the extent of the amount of the gross income not derived from such trade or business. For the purposes of this paragraph deductions and gross income shall be computed with the exceptions, additions, and limitations specified in paragraphs (1) to (4) of this subsection.

The same issue in principle as petitioner’s main contention in the instant case was recently before this Court in Joseph Sic, 10 T. C. 1096, and the issue was there decided in favor of the Commissioner.

The petitioner in his reply brief concedes that our decision in- the Sic case is against him, as are also two United States District Court decisions, namely: Lazier v. United States, 77 Fed. Supp. 241, and Foreman v. Harrison (Dist. Ct., N. Dist. Ill.), - Fed. Supp. - (June 1, 1948). Petitioner, however, argues that these cases were wrongly decided and asks that we reexamine the question in the light of the arguments and analysis made by petitioner in his brief.

We have carefully examined the arguments and the cases cited in petitioner’s brief, but we do not see where these are essentially different from the arguments which the taxpayer made in the Sic case, supra. In view of the fact that the Sic case was reviewed by the Court and the arguments of the taxpayer in that case were fully considered, we deem it unnecessary to take up and discuss in detail the arguments made by petitioner in the instant case. Following the Sic case, we hold that petitioner’s net loss from the sale of his farm in 1942 was not a deduction attributable to the operation of a trade or business regularly carried on by petitioner and, therefore, the limitations fixed by section 122 (d) (5) of the code must be applied.

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Bluebook (online)
11 T.C. 96, 1948 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baruch-v-commissioner-tax-1948.