Cleveland Graphite Bronze Co. v. Comm'r

10 T.C. 974, 1948 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 177, 77 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 548
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMay 27, 1948
DocketDocket No. 9030
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 10 T.C. 974 (Cleveland Graphite Bronze Co. v. Comm'r) 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
Cleveland Graphite Bronze Co. v. Comm'r, 10 T.C. 974, 1948 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 177, 77 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 548 (tax 1948).

Opinion

OPINION.

Van Fossan, Judge:

The first question presented is tlie amount of “daily capital addition” to be used in the computation of excess profits credit pursuant to section 713.

In computing its excess profits credit under that section, a taxpayer is entitled to include an amount equal to (A) 95 per centum of its average base period net income, plus (B) an additional amount equal to 8 per centum of the “net capital addition” as defined in subsection (g), or minus (C) 6 per centum of the “net capital reduction” as defined jn subsection (g). The “daily capital addition” which enters into the computation of “net capital addition” is defined in subsection (g) (3) as “the aggregate of the amounts of money * * * paid in for stock, or as paid-in surplus, or as a contribution to capital, after the beginning of the taxpayer’s first taxable year under this sub-chapter * *

In 1941 the petitioner sold 30,000 shares of its preferred stock. The question to be determined as to this transaction is whether “daily capital addition” is $3,000,000, the agreed purchase price received by petitioner for the 30,000 shares, or $2,895,000, the net amount after payment by petitioner of $105,000 to the underwriters as commission for service. More directly stated, the question is whether $3,000,000 or $2,895,000 is, under the statute,'the amount “of money * * * paid in for stock.” The petitioner contends that the daily capital addition under the statute is the amount of $3,000,000, whereas the respondent contends it is the amount of $2,895,000. The petitioner relies upon Simmons Co., 8 B. T. A. 631; affd. (C. C. A., 1st Cir.), 33 Fed. (2d) 75; certiorari denied, 280 U. S. 588; Magee Furnace Co., 11 B. T. A. 1216, and Finance Corporation of New England, 16 B. T. A. 763. The respondent relies primarily upon Corning Glass Works, 9 B. T. A. 771; affirmed and reversed in part (App. D. C.), 37 Fed. (2d) 798; certiorari denied, 281 U. S. 742.

It is argued by petitioner that, pursuant to normal financial practice, a public offering of the 30,000 shares at $100 a share was accomplished through the mechanics of a sale to the underwriters on March 4, 1941, after the public offering had been made, with all or a substantial portion of the funds paid by the underwriters to petitioner having been supplied by the public investors in the stock, and that while in legal form at the moment of the consummation of the sale the underwriters were the legal purchasers of the stock, they had already spld the stock to the public and were in fact merely conduits through which the ownership of the stock passed from petitioner to the ultimate purchasers.

Invested capital under section 718 (a) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code consists in part of “(1) Money previously paid in for stock, or as paid-in surplus, or as a contribution to capital.” Factor (1) entering into the computation of the excess profits credit based on invested capital is essentially comparable to the factor “daily capital addition” entering into the computation of the excess profits credit based on income. The statutory definition of each factor is the same, i. e., money paid in for stock, or as paid-in surplus, or as a contribution to capital.

The question presented in American Business Credit Corporation, 9 T. C. 1111, was whether the amount paid in by stockholders for taxpayer’s stock or the net amount of cash made available to the taxpayer (its broker agent having retained certain commissions for making the sale of such stock) was “money * * * paid in for stock” under section 718 (a) (1). Therein it is stated:

We think it clear that the question before us is to be approached and answered from the viewpoint of the stockholder, i. e., “money previously paid in for stock.” So approached, the conclusion is obvious that the full amount which the stockholder paid for his stock is to be included in equity invested capital, as contemplated by the statute. The stockholder paid one sum, viz., the purchase price of the stock.

Comparable reasoning is apt in the instant case.

It is to be noted, however, that in American Business Credit Corporation, supra, it was expressly found that the broker did not purchase the shares involved, but in each case found purchasers for the stock and caused the taxpayer to issue shares of stock against payment of the purchase price therefor by the purchasers thereof. Similar findings were made in Simmons Co., supra; Magee Furnace Co., supra, and Finance Corporation of New England, supra, i. e., that the amounts involved had been paid in by the persons to whom the stock was issued.

The facts as disclosed by the record herein are that petitioner entered into an underwriting agreement with two underwriters in February 1941, covering the purchase by them of 30,000 shares of a newly authorized issue of preferred stock from the petitioner at $100 per. share, petitioner to pay the underwriters a commission for their services of $3.50 per share, or a total of $105,000. The agreement required that the underwriters initially offer the stock to the public at not in excess of $100 per share. The shares were publicly offered on February 26, 1941, at $100 a share. On March 4, 1941, the underwriters paid petitioner $3,000,000 and the petitioner paid the underwriters $105,000, and at the same time delivered to one underwriter certificates for 15,515 shares and to the other certificates for 14,485 shares, or a total of 30,000 shares.

Although it appears that the stock was offered to the public at $100 a share, there is no evidence that the 30,000 shares or any of them were actually sold to the public. In so far as the record shows, the 30,000 shares were purchased by the underwriters and the certificates therefor were delivered to them. The record is silent as to whom such certificates were issued. There is no evidence to sustain petitioner’s argument that the funds paid to it by the underwriters had been supplied by public investors in the stock. The petitioner has failed to bring the transaction within the ambit of the cases relied upon by it.

It is stated in Simmons Co., supra, that “under no circumstances can invested capital be increased by the amount of commission which a corporation pays for the sale of its stock to those who thereby become stockholders.”

It is our conclusion, therefore, that the amount of “daily capital addition” as defined in section 713 (g) (3) is $2,895,000, and that the Commissioner did not err in reducing the amount of $3,000,000 received by petitioner from the underwriters by the commission of $105,000 paid by petitioner to the underwriters for services rendered.

The petitioner purchased from the holders thereof 680 shares and 364 shares of its preferred stock which it retired on June 25, 1942, and August 22, 1942, respectively. It paid for such stock the aggregate amounts of $67,145 and $36,138, respectively. Both the petitioner and respondent used the par value of such shares of $68,000 and $36,400 as the daily capital reductions in computing net capital addition for the purpose of determining the excess profits credit.

Section 713 (g) (4) provides that:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cleveland Graphite Bronze Co. v. Comm'r
10 T.C. 974 (U.S. Tax Court, 1948)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
10 T.C. 974, 1948 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 177, 77 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 548, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cleveland-graphite-bronze-co-v-commr-tax-1948.