Bunge N. Am. Grain Corp. v. Commissioner

27 B.T.A. 150, 1932 BTA LEXIS 1115
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedNovember 28, 1932
DocketDocket No. 47800.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 27 B.T.A. 150 (Bunge N. Am. Grain Corp. 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
Bunge N. Am. Grain Corp. v. Commissioner, 27 B.T.A. 150, 1932 BTA LEXIS 1115 (bta 1932).

Opinion

OPINION.

Smith:

The respondent has determined deficiencies against the petitioner of $7,790.57 for the period February 16 to December 81, 1926, inclusive, and $10,552.32 for the calendar year 1927. The respondent now concedes that there is no deficiency for the period February 16 to December 31,1926. The only question at issue, therefore, is whether the petitioner may carry forward to 1927 the unab[151]*151sorbed portion of its statutory net loss for 1925. The material facts have been stipulated and are as follows:

1. Petitioner and Bunge Western Grain Corporation were incorporated under the laws of the State of New York on March 17, 1923 and April 18, 1923, respectively.
2. The entire capital stock of Petitioner and said Bunge Western Grain Corporation at all times was owned and controlled by Bunge & Born, Lda., S. A., Commercial Financiera ETndustrial, a South American corporation not doing business in the United States.
3. The business of Petitioner consists in exporting from and importing into the United States all kinds of grains, and acting as selling agent in the United States for its parent. The business of Bunge Western Grain Corporation was the same as that of Petitioner, except its activities were confined to the Pacific coast and the Orient.
4. Bunge Western Grain Corporation was dissolved December 29, 1925 by the filing of a certificate of dissolution on that date in accordance with the laws of the State of New York.
5. From December 29, 1925 to and including February 15, 1926, Bunge Western Grain Corporation was in the process of liquidation and was finally liquidated on the latter date.
6. Upon the dissolution of Bunge Western Grain Corporation, Petitioner took over the territory and carried on the business formerly handled by it.
7. Petitioner and Bunge Western Grain Corporation filed consolidated Federal income tax returns for the calendar years 1925 and 1926.
8. Petitioner sustained a separate net loss for the calendar year 1925, computed in accordance with Section 206 of the Revenue Act of 1926, of $417,169.18.
9. Bunge Western Grain Corporation sustained a separate net loss for the calendar year 1925, computed in accordance with said Section, of $175,857.05.
10. Petitioner had a separate net income for the period January 1, 1926 to February 15,1926 of $8,321.52, before deducting any part of its separate net loss for the calendar year 1925. Petitioner’s income for said period did not include any dividends from domestic corporations or tax exempt interest, and its net income did not reflect any non-business deductions, depletion based on discovery value, or percentage depletion.
11. Bunge Western Grain Corporation had a separate net loss, computed in accordance with Section 206 of the Revenue Act of 1926, for the period January 1,1926 to February 15,1926, of $84,918.01, before deducting any part of its separate net loss for the calendar year 1925.
12. Petitioner had a net income for the period February 16, 1926 to December 31, 1926 of $57,707,94, before deducting any part of its separate net losses for the calendar year 1925 and the period January 1, 1926 to February 15, 1926. Petitioner’s income for said period did not include any dividends from domestic corporations or tax exempt interest, and its net income did not reflect any non-business deductions, depletion based on discovery value, or percentage depletion.
13. Petitioner had a net income for the calendar year 1927 of $78,165.36, before deducting any part of its separate net losses for the calendar year 1925 and the period January 1, 1926 to February 15, 1926.
14. Petitioner was not affiliated with any other domestic corporation during the period February 15, 1926 to December 31,1926, and the calendar year 1927.
The annual accounting period of both Petitioner and Bunge Western Grain Corporation during the time covered by this appeal was the calendar year, and both Corporations computed net income upon a calendar year basis.

[152]*152Section 206 (b) of the 1926 Act provides, with respect to net losses, as follows:

If, for any taxable year, it appears upon the production of evidence satisfactory to the Commissioner that any taxpayer has sustained a net loss, the amount thereof shall be allowed as a deduction in computing the net income of the taxpayer for the succeeding taxable year (hereinafter in this section called “second year”), and if such net loss is in excess of such net income (computed without such deduction), the amount of such excess shall be allowed as a deduction in computing the net income for the next succeeding taxable year (hereinafter in this section called “third year”) ; the deduction in all cases to be made under regulations prescribed by the Commissioner with the approval of the Secretary.

A taxable year is defined in section 200 of the 1926 Act as follows:

(a) The term “ taxable year ” means the calendar year, or the fiscal year ending during such calendar year, upon the basis of which the net income is computed under section 212 or 232. * * *

The respondent contends that no part of the petitioner’s 1925 net loss may be carried beyond December 81, 1926; that, with respect to the disposition of the petitioner’s net loss for 1925, the petitioner’s second taxable year was the period January 1 to February 15, 1926, for which the petitioner was required to file a consolidated return with its affiliated company, and that the period from February 16 to December 31, inclusive, for which the petitioner was required to file a separate return, was the third taxable year. The respondent, in support of his contention that the petitioner was required to file a consolidated return for the period January 1 to February 15, 1926, cites Sweets Co. of America v. Commissioner, 40 Fed. (2d) 486; Swift & Co. v. United States, 69 Ct. Cls. 171; and Tolerton & Warfield Co., 23 B. T. A. 892.

In Sweets Co. of America v. Commissioner, supra, two corporations were affiliated for the first six months in 1929, when a new corporation was organized and affiliated with them. The three corporations remained affiliated for the next four months, when the two first affiliated companies were merged into the new company. The court held that there was required a consolidated return for all three companies for the first 10 months of the year (reversing the Board’s ruling that two separate consolidated returns were required for that period) and a single return for the merged corporation for the last two months of the year. The same court, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, later held in American Paper Exports, Inc. v. Bowers, 54 Fed. (2d) 508, that, where a parent corporation was organized in April, 1918, to take over a subsidiary which had existed from the beginning of the year, only one consolidated return was required for the entire year, in which should be reported the separate income of the subsidiary for the period prior to [153]

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Related

Stutz Motor Car Co. of America v. United States
17 F. Supp. 742 (S.D. Indiana, 1936)
Bunge N. Am. Grain Corp. v. Commissioner
27 B.T.A. 150 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1932)

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Bluebook (online)
27 B.T.A. 150, 1932 BTA LEXIS 1115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bunge-n-am-grain-corp-v-commissioner-bta-1932.