Coastal Chemical Corp. v. United States

401 F. Supp. 141, 34 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6210, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7111
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedAugust 16, 1974
DocketCiv. A. No. 1370(N)
StatusPublished

This text of 401 F. Supp. 141 (Coastal Chemical Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coastal Chemical Corp. v. United States, 401 F. Supp. 141, 34 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6210, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7111 (S.D. Miss. 1974).

Opinion

[142]*142OPINION

NIXON, District Judge.

This action is before the Court on joint Motions of the parties, Coastal Chemical Corporation, and United States of America, for Summary Judgment. This Court having carefully considered the record herein, including interrogatories and answers thereto, affidavits, and a Stipulation of Facts, makes the following determinations.

ISSUES

(1) Whether the plaintiff paid the taxes and interest in question and, as a result, has standing to maintain this action for their recovery.

(2) Whether distributions of cash and corporate stock made by the plaintiff to a foreign corporation, constituted income and thus required the plaintiff to withhold income tax.

(3) Whether the fair market value of the shares of capital stock distributed to thp foreign corporation was overstated for the last two years involved.1

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. This is a civil action instituted by the plaintiff, Coastal Chemical Corporation (Coastal), against the defendant, United States of America, for the recovery of $67,277.77 in income taxes, including interest thereon, alleged to have been erroneously or illegally assessed and wrongfully collected for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964, such years being referred to hereinafter as 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964, respectively. (Stipulation, Par. 1).

2. Coastal is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Mississippi and has its principal place of business and office at Yazoo City, Mississippi which is within the Western Division of the Southern Judicial District of Mississippi. Acomex Agentes Comerciales en Mexico, S.A. (Acomex), is a corporation organized under the laws of Mexico which is not engaged in a trade or business in the United States and has its domicile and principal place of business in Mexico City, Mexico. Acomex, upon Motion of the United States, was dismissed as a party in this suit for lack of in personam jurisdiction. (Stipulation, Pars. 2, 5, and 19).

3. During the years in question, Coastal’s capital stock consisted of four classes of common stock denominated Class A, Class B, Class C and Class D, each class having a par value of $25.00 per share except Class B which had a par value of ten cents per share. On October 20, 1960, Acomex acquired 40 shares of Coastal’s Class A stock, and at all times material herein has been one of Coastal’s shareholders. (Stipulation, Pars. 4, 5).

4. During all times material herein, Coastal was engaged in manufacturing and selling agricultural fertilizers and Acomex was engaged in the business of importing fertilizers for sale to Mexican farmers and dealers. In each of the fiscal years in question, Acomex purchased mixed fertilizers from Coastal which were thereafter sold to residents and Citizens of Mexico or to entities formed under Mexican law. Acomex was not, however, engaged in a trade or business in the United States during this period. (Stipulation, Pars. 3, 5).

5. Coastal’s Charter (Art. IV, Sec. E), provided that “(t)he primary purpose of the corporation (was) to provide commodities to stockholders who are bona fide producers of agricultural products at cost * * In connection with this, provision, the Charter also provided that no sale or transfer of the corporation’s stock, unless specifically approved by the board of directors, was to be made to any entity not “primarily engaged in the production of agricultural products.”

[143]*1436. Under Coastal’s Charter (Art. IY, Sec. F), subject to specified exceptions, each owner of the corporation’s Class A or Class B stock was entitled to the preferred patronage right to purchase during each fiscal year of the corporation, any of the products manufactured by the corporation, except straight nitrogen fertilizer, having a total purchase price of up to one and one-half times the par value of his stock. Each owner of Class C or Class D stock was entitled to purchase one ton of straight nitrogen fertilizer for each four shares of stock he owned. (Stipulation, Par. 6).

7. As a result of these purchases, Acomex was entitled to patronage refunds or dividends based upon the amount of its patronage during the fiscal years in question. Coastal’s charter provided (Article V, Sec. B), that as of the end of each fiscal year, all the excess of the aggregate selling price over the aggregate cost of manufactured products sold to stockholders would be refunded to each stockholder patron in proportion to the amount of his patronage of manufactured products of the corporation during the fiscal year. (Stipulation, Par. 7).

8. During the suit years, Coastal produced, and Acomex purchased from it, at the total purchase price indicated, mixed fertilizer as follows:

FYE 6-30 Tons Produced Tons Purchased by Coastal by Acomex Total Purchase Price Paid by Acomex
1961 128,385 2,789.11 $264,762.98
1962 188,233 6,079.71 482,209.39
1963 332,779 3,356.01 231,471.60
1964 402,347 3,126.25 206,687.63
(Stip. Par. 8)

9. At the end of each of the suit years, Coastal notified Acomex in writing that patronage refunds in specific amounts were due and payable to Acomex. The notices disclosed to Acomex the stated dollar amount of the earnings of Coastal which had been allocated to Acomex by Coastal and the portion thereof which constituted patronage refunds to Acomex. The amounts of the patronage refunds specified in the notices and the dates of payment thereof for each year, respectively, were as follows:

FYE Amount Due Payment 6-30 Per Notice Date
1961 $40,402.83 8-17-61
1962 71,285.50 8-15-62
1963 37,864.59 8-16-63
1964 38,662.16 8-15-64
(Stip. Par. 9)

10. The patronage refunds, indicated in the notices to be due and payable to Acomex with respect to each of the suit years, were equal to a calculated percentage of the total amount Acomex had paid Coastal for mixed fertilizers purchased during such years, respectively, as follows:

FYE % of Total Purchase Price 6-30 Payable as Patronage Refunds
1961 15.2600
1962 14.7831
1963 16.3582
1964 18.7056
(Stip. Par. 10)

11. The full amount of the patronage refunds for each year, which Coastal notified Acomex was due and payable, was paid to Acomex in cash and certificates of Coastal’s Class A common stock. The amount of cash paid to Acomex, the value assigned to the shares of stock [144]*144delivered to Acomex and the number of such shares, for purposes of paying such patronage refunds for each year, were as follows:

FYE 6-30 Cash Paid Value Assigned to Stock No. of Shares Amount of Patronage Refunds
1961 $ 306.20 $ 40,097.63 1,336.5876 $ 40,402.83
1962 10,175.12 61,110.38 2,037.0126 71,285.50
1963 27,920.18 9,944.41 284.1260 37,864.59
1964 34,584.09 4,078.07 116.5163 38,662.16

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Bluebook (online)
401 F. Supp. 141, 34 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6210, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7111, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coastal-chemical-corp-v-united-states-mssd-1974.