Carpenter v. Commissioner

27 B.T.A. 282, 1932 BTA LEXIS 1091
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedDecember 10, 1932
DocketDocket No. 54463.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 27 B.T.A. 282 (Carpenter 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
Carpenter v. Commissioner, 27 B.T.A. 282, 1932 BTA LEXIS 1091 (bta 1932).

Opinion

[284]*284OPINION.

McMahon :

We are here called upon to determine the taxable income derived in the year 1928 by the petitioner upon the sale in 1927 of certain real property located in Chicago, Illinois, which she and her husband had acquired and owned as joint tenants. Petitioner’s husband died about six months before the date of sale.

The sale was upon the installment basis and was so treated by the petitioner in her income tax return for the year 1928. No question is raised as to the propriety of this manner of returning the income. The sole issue relates to the proper basis to be used. For the year 1928 the petitioner returned and paid income tax upon an aliquot part of one-half of the difference between the total cost of the entire property and the selling price. This was upon the theory that she acquired one-half of the property at the date of the original transfer to her and her husband. It is her contention that the remaining half of the property was acquired by her upon the death of her husband; that the basis for the determination of gain or loss upon her sale of that portion is its value as of the date of the death of her husband; and that, since at that date it had a value equal to the price at which it was later sold, no gain was derived upon the sale. The respondent, on the other hand, contends that the proper basis to be used in the determination of gain or loss to the petitioner upon the sale of the entire property is the original cost of such property, namely, $77,136.07, and that the gain derived by petitioner is the difference between that figure and the selling price of the entire property, $125,000, less the broker’s commission of $3,750 paid by petitioner. Neither petitioner nor respondent, in their calculations, [285]*285deducted this commission, but respondent in his brief concedes that it should be deducted in computing the profit. This amount will be deducted upon the recomputation under Eule 50.

Under section 113 of the Revenue Act of 1928, set forth in part in the margin,1 the basis for the determination of gain or loss from the sale or other disposition of property acquired after February 28, 1913, shall be the cost of such property, with certain exceptions. This property was acquired by petitioner after February 28, 1913, and unless one of the exceptions is applicable the basis to be used is the cost of the property. The only exceptions which are possibly applicable are contained in subdivision (a) (5).

In applying the quoted portion of the statute, we are governed by certain well established rules of statutory construction to the effect that exceptions to the general provisions of a statute should be strictly construed; that the burden of proof is upon the one claiming the benefit of such exceptions to bring himself within them; that the general provision is broader than the exception and all doubts and implications should be resolved in favor of the rule rather than the exception; that a legislature is presumed toi have stated all the exceptions to a general provision which it intended to state; and that other exceptions than those designated by statute can not be read into the statute. Bend v. Hoyt, 13 Pet. 263; United States v. Scharton, 285 U. S. 518; Kendall v. United States, 107 U. S. 123; Hopkins v. United States, 235 Fed. 95; Basham Co. v. Lucas, 21 Fed. (2d) 550; Eddington v. Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., 201 La. 67; 202 N. W. 374; Mobile Liners v. McConnell, 220 Ala. 562; 126 So. 626; Holmes v. Coalson, 154 S. W. 661 (Tex.); In re Cadwells Estate, 26 Wyo. 412; 186 Pac. 499; and Rothschild v. Superior Court, 293 Pac. 106 (Cal.). In Bend v. Hoyt, supra, the Supreme Court stated that “ an exception in a statute amounts to an affirmation of the application of its provisions toi all other cases not excepted,” and “ is conclusive to show that none other was intended.” In United States v. Scharton, supra, it was held that the clause of section 1110(a) of the Revenue Act of 1926 fixing the limitation period for offenses involving fraud at six years is an exception clause, and is to be narrowly construed.

[286]*286It is also well settled that the title of a statute can not enlarge or confer powers, or control the words of the act unless they are doubtful or ambiguous, and that the ambiguity must be in the context and not in the title to render the latter of any avail. Cornell v. Coyne, 192 U. S. 418; Patterson v. The Eudora, 190 U. S. 169, and United States v. McCrory, 119 Fed, 861. The same rule applies to headings of subdivisions of statutes. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co. v. Pew, 109 Va. 288; 64 S. E. 35; State v. Bridges, 19 Wash. 431; 53 Pac. 545; 36 Cyc. 1134, 1135. There is no ambiguity in the context of the portion of the statute which is here under consideration.

We are here called upon, in the light of those rules of statutory construction, to determine whether petitioner received one.-half of the joint tenancy property “by intestacy,” within the meaning of section 113 (a) (5) of the Revenue Act of 1928.

It is the contention of the petitioner that in the case of joint tenants in Illinois, the death of one tenant gives to the other tenant, as a matter of succession, the half interest of the deceased tenant, and the surviving tenant who theretofore had owned merely an undivided' half interest then receives the other half for the first time. This raises the question as to whether she took a one-half interest in the property from her husband “ by intestacy ” and whether this proceeding comes within the provisions of subdivision (a) (5) of section 113 of the Revenue Act of 1928. No claim is made that petitioner received this interest in real estate by general or specific devise.

In regard to the incidents of joint tenancy we are bound by the rules of property established in Illinois, the state in which the real property in question is located. Tyler v. United States, 281 U. S. 497.

It is well settled by the courts of Illinois that a joint tenancy may be created having all the attributes of a common law joint tenancy. In Gaunt v. Stevens, 241 Ill. 542; 89 N. E. 812, the Supreme Court of Illinois stated in part:

A “ joint tenancy ” is where two or more persons have any subject of property, jointly, in which there is unity of interest, unity of title, unity of time, and unity of possession. 2 Blackstone’s Com. 180, * * *.

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Murphy v. Commissioner
41 T.C. 608 (U.S. Tax Court, 1964)
Crosby v. Commissioner
1961 T.C. Memo. 272 (U.S. Tax Court, 1961)
Timanus v. Commissioner
32 T.C. 631 (U.S. Tax Court, 1959)
Kleberg v. Commissioner
31 B.T.A. 95 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1934)
Carpenter v. Commissioner
27 B.T.A. 282 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1932)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
27 B.T.A. 282, 1932 BTA LEXIS 1091, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carpenter-v-commissioner-bta-1932.