Clark v. Commissioner

58 T.C. 94, 1972 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 145
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedApril 19, 1972
DocketDocket Nos. 6298-69, 6299-69
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 58 T.C. 94 (Clark 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
Clark v. Commissioner, 58 T.C. 94, 1972 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 145 (tax 1972).

Opinion

OPINION

Raum, Judge:

The Commissioner determined deficiencies in income tax as follows:

Docket No. Year ending Deficiency
Randall N. and Jeannette]S-Clark... 6298-69TDec. 31,1966!-H ,$6,494.08
Bryan M. and Charlotte S. Clark. 6299-69 Jan.^31,1967 '» ¡.29,503.19

The only issue remaining for decision is whether a distribution to the shareholders of an electing small business corporation of its negotiable demand notes within 2% months after the close of its taxable year constituted a tax-free distribution of the corporation’s undistributed taxable income under section 1375(f), I.R.C. 1954. The facts have been stipulated.

Randall N. and Jeannette S. Clark, petitioners in docket No. 6298-69, are husband and wife. They filed a joint Federal income tax return for the calendar year 1966 with the district director of internal revenue at Augusta, Maine. Petitioners in docket No. 6299-69 are the Estate of Bryan M. Clark and Charlotte S. Clark, Bryan’s widow. Bryan and Charlotte filed a joint Federal income tax return for the taxable year ending January 31, 1967, with the district director of internal revenue at Augusta, Maine. Bryan died on August 24, 1968, and Randall N. Clark was duly appointed executor of his “estate.” The petitioners in both cases resided in Union, Maine, at the time of filing of their respective petitions herein.

Bryan, Charlotte, and Randall Clark were shareholders and directors of B. M. Clark Co., Inc. (BMC or the corporation), a supplier of construction equipment. Together they owned all of the issued, no-par common stock of the corporation, their respective stockholdings being apportioned as follows:

Percent
Bryan M. Clark_■_ 72.1
Charlotte S. Clark_ 2. 6
Randall N. Clark_ 25. 3
100.0

BMC was incorporated in 1947. On April 16, 1963, it elected to be treated, for Federal income tax purposes, as a “small business corporation” pursuant to section 1371 et seq. (subcb. S), I.R.C. 1954. Such election remained in force through the corporation’s taxable year ending March 31, 1966, and terminated as of April 1, 1966, the first day of its taxable year ending March 31,1967.1

. On March 31, 1966, BMC had accumulated earnings and profits in the amount of $143,996, no part of which represented taxable income realized by it during the years that it was an electing small business corporation. In addition, its taxable income for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1966, was $48,683, all of which was undistributed, and it also then had undistributed taxable income for prior years (during which it was a subchapter S corporation) in the aggregate amount of $54,001, of which $50,212 related to its fiscal year ending March 31, 1965.

On March 31,1966, the corporation made a distribution to its stockholders in the amount of $50,212, purportedly in respect of the theretofore undistributed taxable income allocable to the fiscal year ending March 31, 1965. This distribution was made pursuant to a vote of BMC’s board of directors at a meeting on March 21,1966, the minutes of which read, in part, as follows:

The President stated that, in view of the status of the Corporation as a sub-chapter S Corporation under the Internal Revenue Code, that it would be advisable to distribute to the shareholders their proportionate shares of the Corporation’s undistributed taxable income for the fiscal years ending March 31, 1965 and March 31, 1966.
On motion, duly made and seconded, it was
VOTED: That the Corporation pay over to shareholders of record their proportional share of the Corporation’s undistributed taxable income for the fiscal year ending March 31,1965 as follows:
Bryan M. Clark_$36, 221.13
Charlotte S. Clark_ 1,305. 50
Randall N. Clark_ 12,-685. 08
50,211. 71
On motion, duly made and seconded, it was
VOTED: That the Corporation pay over to shareholders of record their proportionate shares of the Corporation’s undistributed taxable income for the fiscal year ending March 31,1966 in the form of the Corporation’s demand promissory notes, sucb notes to be issued as soon as tbe amounts thereof shall be determined by the Corporation’s accountant.

On May 31, 1966, the corporation issued its demand non-interest-bearing notes to its stockholders as follows:

Bryan M. Clark_$37, 832.37
Charlotte S. Clark_ 1,364. 27
Randall N. Clark_ 13,275.43
[2] 52,472. 07

On July 18, 1966, the corporation made payment in full on these notes, without interest, to the foregoing payees.3

Pursuant to its status as an electing small business corporation during its taxable year ending March 31, 1966, BMC owed and paid no Federal income tax for such year; its income was apportioned among its shareholders and reported on their income tax returns as follows:

Share of BUG'S Return for taxable Shareholder year ending income
Bryan M. Clark-Jan. 31, 1967 $35,100
Charlotte S. Clark_Jan. 31, 1967 1,266
Randall N. Clark-Dee. 31, 1966 12, 317
48,683

The shareholders did not include the cash distributions they received on July 13, 1966, in gross income, treating them as nontaxable distributions out of previously taxed income. In his notices of deficiency, the Commissioner determined that the respective amount of cash received by each stockholder on July 13,1966—

does not qualify as a non-dividend distribution of previously taxed income under Section 1375(d) of the I.R.C. since the corporation terminated its election to be treated as a small business corporation effective as of tbe first day of its taxable year, 4/1/66. Thus, sucb distribution as was made is fully taxable to you. See Section 1.1375-4 of tbe Regs, under tbe 1954 Code.

The Commissioner accordingly increased the taxpayers’ respective taxable incomes by the amounts of the cash distributions received by them. In effect, he ruled that the distributions were chargeable against the corporation’s accumulated earnings and profits rather than against its undistributed taxable income. We hold that his determinations were correct.

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Clark v. Commissioner
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Bluebook (online)
58 T.C. 94, 1972 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 145, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-commissioner-tax-1972.