Bell Aircraft Corp. v. Commissioner

32 T.C. 355, 1959 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 170
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMay 14, 1959
DocketDocket No. 68395
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 32 T.C. 355 (Bell Aircraft Corp. 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
Bell Aircraft Corp. v. Commissioner, 32 T.C. 355, 1959 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 170 (tax 1959).

Opinion

Mulronet, Judge:

Respondent determined deficiencies hi the petitioner’s income and excess profits taxes for the year 1952 in the amount of $946,467.11.

The issue before us is whether, under section 456 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939,1 the petitioner is entitled, in computing its excess profits tax for 1952, to exclude from its gross income the income arising from a judgment to the extent that such income is attributable to years prior to 1950.

FINDINGS OF FACT.

The stipulated facts are herein incorporated by this reference.

Bell Aircraft Corporation, the petitioner, is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of New York with its principal office and place of business in the town of Wheatfield, Niagara County, New York. It filed a timely income and excess profits tax return for the year 1952 with the district director of internal revenue at Buffalo, New York. For all years since its incorporation in 1935, the petitioner has kept its books and filed its Federal income and excess profits tax returns on a calendar year and an accrual basis.

From 1935 until 1945 the major part of the petitioner’s business was the development and manufacture of military aircraft. In 1936,1937, and 1938 the petitioner entered into certain fixed-price or FP contracts with the United States through the United States Army Air Corps, for the construction of experimental and service test airplanes. In the performance of these experimental contracts the petitioner incurred, in 1936 through 1940, substantial expenditures over and above amounts received, which costs were set up on the petitioner’s books as deferred charges applicable to anticipated future production. Petitioner acquired a number of basic patents in connection with its development Avork, on which substantial royalties were realized. By December 31, 1940, the petitioner had capitalized and deferred these experimental, development, and production tooling expenditures in the amount of $3,422,870.23. The sum of $48,405.23 had been disallowed by Army audit, leaving a net amount subject to amortization of $3,374,465. Out of the total of deferred expenses, the amount of $1,499,739.23 was due to experimental and development costs incurred by the petitioner under its experimental contracts of 1936, 1937, and 1938 when it experimented on three types of airplanes; while the amount of $1,874,725.77 was due to production tooling costs incurred in 1939 and 1940 for the production of the P-39, Airacobra, airplane, for which the petitioner received its first contract (fixed price) in 1939. Production tooling is distinguished from ordinary machine tools in that the latter are more permanent and universal in character, consisting of milling machines, lathes, drill presses, etc., not restricted in use to specific models or types of the product manufactured. Production tooling for the P-39 was largely assembly tooling, consisting of long-beam assembly, subassembly, and tail-assembly features, all of which wnre fabricated in structural steel and remained in use as long as this type of airplane was in production. It also included metal tubes, angles, form blocks, jigs, router templets, and templet dies.

The petitioner originally planned to amortize these deferred costs of $3,374,465 on the basis of the number of planes delivered and to be delivered on all production contracts, fixed-price as well as cost-plus-fixed-fee, on hand at the end of each year and by prorating such costs annually against deliveries made during the current year. However, petitioner’s officials had been advised by Army Air Corps officials that the deferred expenses in question might not be approved for reimbursement under the cost-plus-fixed-fee, or CPFF, contracts then being negotiated. To avoid any question of allowable reimbursement, petitioner changed its original plan of amortization by limiting the allocation of the deferred charges to its fixed-price production contracts only. By the end of 1942 the petitioner had amortized all of its deferred experimental, development, and production tooling expenses against deliveries under its FP contracts for the years 1940, 1941, and 1942.

In April 1939 the petitioner entered into a fixed-price contract for the production of the P-39, Airacobra, which was one of the several types of fighter planes upon which the petitioner had conducted experimental work in the prior years. Thereafter, the petitioner was awarded additional production contracts for the P-39, Airacobra. The earlier production contracts were fixed-price but commencing on August 14, 1941, the petitioner entered into a series of CPFF contracts with the United States, through the U.S. Army Air Corps, for the production of the P-39, Airacobra. Under the CPFF contracts the United States agreed to reimburse the petitioner for the cost of manufacturing and in addition to pay the petitioner a fixed fee as provided in each of such contracts.

In 1942, at which time the petitioner was engaged in production under the CPFF contracts, the Commissioner of Internal Eevenue required that, for Federal income tax purposes, the experimental, development, and production tooling expenses should be allocated to airplanes produced under CPFF contracts as well as the FP contracts. The Commissioner adjusted the petitioner’s income for 1941 and 1942 by allocating the amortization of such expenses to airplane deliveries under both the FP and CPFF contracts. By reallocating $2,286,819.95 of the $3,374,465 of deferred expenses to the CPFF contracts, the petitioner’s income from its FP contracts was increased by such amount and the Commissioner made additional assessments against petitioner’s resulting net income for the years 1941 and 1942 in the approximate amount of $1,337,474.89. The amount of $2,286,-819.95 disallowed by the Commissioner as a deduction from the petitioner’s FP contract income in 1941 and 1942 was allowed by him as a deduction in determining petitioner’s net income under the CPFF contracts for Federal income tax purposes for the years 1942 through 1945, as follows:

Amount allowed Year as a deduction

1942- $456, 831.19

1943- 1,226,443.58

1944- 360, 846. 03

1945- 273, 678.40

Total-12, 317, 799.20

Following the Commissioner’s reallocation of the deferred expenses to both FP and CPFF contracts, the petitioner, on September 7, 1943, contacted the Price Adjustment Board, War Department, and requested permission to restore to the deferred expense account the proportion of experimental, development, and production tooling expenses applicable to CPFF contracts. Approval of such request was indicated by the Price Adjustment Board, and on September 9, 1943, the petitioner restored to the deferred expense account the amount of $2,286,819.95 of this total amount; $1,035,918.73 represented experimental and development expenses, and $1,250,901.22 represented production tooling costs.

Reimbursement vouchers were submitted by the petitioner for the proportion of the experimental, development, and production tooling expenses applicable to deliveries under the CPFF contracts during 1942 in the amount of $451,179.96 and to deliveries under the CPFF contracts during January to August 1943 in the amount of $848,676.06.

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Bell Aircraft Corp. v. Commissioner
32 T.C. 355 (U.S. Tax Court, 1959)

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Bluebook (online)
32 T.C. 355, 1959 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 170, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-aircraft-corp-v-commissioner-tax-1959.