Chicago Stadium Corp. v. Commissioner

13 T.C. 889, 1949 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 21
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedDecember 6, 1949
DocketDocket No. 20956
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 13 T.C. 889 (Chicago Stadium 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
Chicago Stadium Corp. v. Commissioner, 13 T.C. 889, 1949 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 21 (tax 1949).

Opinion

OPINION.

Johnson, Judge:

Petitioner’s position is that the transaction by which it acquired its assets from Chicago Stadium Corporation (Illinois) constituted a “reorganization” under section 112 (b) (10), Internal Revenue Code,1 and that accordingly the basis of those assets is the basis in the hands of the Illinois corporation under section 113 (a) (22).2 Respondent determined that the transaction did not constitute a “reorganization” under section 112 (b) (10) and that therefore the basis of petitioner’s assets should be predicated upon their cost to petitioner. Respondent’s argument is that the continuity of interest in the business on “the part of those persons who were the owners of the enterprise prior to the reorganization” required by Regulations 111, section 29.112 (b) (10)-1,3 is lacking here. Respondent also maintains that the transaction does not meet the specific statutory requirement of section 112 (b) (10) that the property of the old corporation be transferred to the new corporation “in exchange solely for stock or securities” of the new corporation.

Dealing with respondent’s second contention first, we think that, contrary to that contention, the transaction here in question is not barred from the coverage of section 112 (b) (10) by reason of the “solely for stock or securities” statutory requirement just cited. Section 112 (d) of the code'specifically provides:

(d) Same — Gain of Coepoeation. — If an exchange would be within the provisions of subsection (b) (4) or (10) of this section if it were not for the fact that the property received in exchange consists not only of stock or securities permitted by such paragraph to be received without the recognition of gain, but also of other property or money, then—
(1) If the corporation receiving such other property or money distributes it in pursuance of the plan of reorganization, no gain to the corporation shall be recognized from the exchange, but
(2) If the corporation receiving such other property or money does not distribute it in pursuance of the plan of reorganization, the gain, if any, to the corporation shall be recognized, but in' an amount not in excess of the sum of such money and the fair market value of such other property so received, which is not so distributed.

Here, land, buildings, and fixtures which, had been subject to the lien of the first mortgage made by the old Illinois corporation were transferred to petitioner, the new corporation. The first mortgage bondholders, who, as in Helvering v. Alabama Asphaltic Limestone Co., 315 U. S. 179, may be treated as having become owners of the equity in the insolvent corporation from the date of the institution of bankruptcy proceedings, received in exchange for their first mortgage bonds second mortgage bonds of petitioner. To be sure, other property of the old corporation, not subject to mortgage, was exchanged for cash or other-property than stock or securities in the new corporation. But under section 112 (d) the tax-free character of the insolvency reorganization is not destroyed in such case — assuming, of course, that this is otherwise a tax-free insolvency reorganization under section 112 (b) (10).

However, as already stated, respondent’s primary argument is that the transaction here in question does not qualify as a reorganization under section 112 (b) (10) because it does not meet the “continuity of interest” requirement of Regulations 111, section 29.112 (b) (10)-lj cited above. Petitioner does not seriously dispute that that requirement is not met, and the facts could support no other conclusion. Here, as stated in our findings, the owners of the enterprise prior to the “reorganization,” the stockholders of the old Illinois corporation, holding both preferred and common stock in the amounts of $2,495,-000 and $500,000, acquired none of the stock or bonds issued by petitioner, and received none of the proceeds from the sale of those assets of the Illinois corporation which were sold. The interests of such stockholders in the Illinois corporation were completely eliminated under the plan of reorganization and pursuant to the plan, of reorganization such stockholders received no interest in petitioner. The entire issue of common stock of petitioner was sold instead to the underwriter, James Norris, for cash. Norris also purchased for cash the entire issue of first mortgage bonds of petitioner in the amount of $250,000. Nor did the holders of first mortgage bonds of the Illinois corporation, who, as we have said, may be treated as having become the owners of the equity in the insolvent corporation, receive any stock interest in petitioner. They received in exchange for their first mortgage bonds of the old corporation only second mortgage bonds of petitioner, thus becoming merely creditors of petitioner. Thus it is plain that the requirement of Regulations 111, section 29.112 (b) (10), that, in order to “qualify a transaction as a reorganization under section 112 (b) (10)” there be “a continuity of interest therein on the part of those persons who were the owners of the enterprise prior to the reorganization,” is not met here.

Petitioner, however, bases its appeal from respondent’s determination almost entirely upon an assault upon Regulations 111, section 29.112 (b) (10)-1, contending that the regulation, in so far as it purports to require a continuity of interest as between predecessor and successor corporations, is not a proper interpretation of section 112 (b) (10), We do not agree. The Senate Finance Committee Report on the Revenue Bill of 1943, S. Rept. No. 627, specifically says (p. 50) concerning section 112 (b) (10), which was first introduced with that bill:

* * * It is intended that only an actual reorganization of a corporation will be covered as distinguished from a liquidation in a bankruptcy proceeding and sale of property to either new or old interests supplying new capital and discharging the obligations of the old corporation. In other words, the type of transaction which was held not to be a reorganization under section 112 (g) (1) in the Mascot Stove Co. case (120 F. (2d) 153) or in Templeton’s Jewelers, Inc. (126 F. (2d) 251) would likewise not be covered under these amendments. * * *

In Mascot Stove Co. v. Commissioner (C. C. A., 6th Cir., 1941), 120 Fed. (2d) 153, cited in the committee report, the stockholders in the old company, which had become bankrupt, were permitted to become stockholders in the new company, but it was held that the requisite continuity of interest was lacking, and that the stockholders did not receive an interest in the acquiring corporation in exchange for their interest in the transferor, since by virtue of the adjudication in bankruptcy the old stockholders had nothing to transfer. Here, the stockholders of the Illinois corporation had nothing to transfer, could receive nothing, and were not even permitted to become stockholders in the new company. Hence, the absence of the requisite continuity is even more striking than in the Mascot Stove Co. case.

In Templeton's Jewelers, Inc. v. United States (C. C. A., 6th Cir., 1942), 126 Fed.

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Chicago Stadium Corp. v. Commissioner
13 T.C. 889 (U.S. Tax Court, 1949)

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Bluebook (online)
13 T.C. 889, 1949 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 21, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicago-stadium-corp-v-commissioner-tax-1949.