Columbia Oil & Gas Co. v. Commissioner

41 B.T.A. 38, 1940 BTA LEXIS 1240
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedJanuary 10, 1940
DocketDocket No. 90624.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 41 B.T.A. 38 (Columbia Oil & Gas Co. 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
Columbia Oil & Gas Co. v. Commissioner, 41 B.T.A. 38, 1940 BTA LEXIS 1240 (bta 1940).

Opinions

[43]*43OPINION.

Black :

Issue 1. — Petitioner contends that the respondent erred in his computation of profit in arriving at a “Net remaining cost in leases sold” of $355,940.79 instead of $379,897.78. The parties by stipulation have narrowed this issue to whether the transfer of the oil properties by the Eush brothers to petitioner on May 4, 1931, was a taxable or a nontaxable transaction. This depends upon the effect of section 112 (b) (5) and (j) of the Revenue Acts of 1928 and 1932, which are identical and are as follows:

SEC. 112. RECOGNITION OP GAIN OR LOSS.
(a) General Rule.' — Upon the sale or exchange of property the entire amount of the gain or loss, determined under section 111, shall be recognized, except as hereinafter provided in this section.
(b) Exchanges Solely in Kind.—
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(5) Transfer to corporation controlled by transferor. — No gain or loss shall be recognized if property is transferred to a corporation by one or more persons solely in exchange for stock or securities in such corporation, and [44]*44immediately after the exchange such person or persons are in control of the corporation; but in the case of an exchange by two or more persons this paragraph shall apply only if the amount of the stock and securities received by each is substantially in proportion to his interest in the property prior to the exchange.
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(j) Definition of Contbol. — As used in this section the term “control” means the ownership of at least 80 per centum of the voting stock and at least 80 per centum of the total number of shares of all other classes of stock of the corporation.

Since this issue concerns the determination of the proper “basis” to be used in computing the gain from the sale to Stanolind in 1933 of the oil properties transferred to petitioner by the Kush brothers solely in exchange for stock at the time of petitioner’s organization, we arrive at the present consideration of the above quoted provisions of section 112 by having first considered in the order named the following provisions of the Revenue Act of 1932, namely, section 111 (a); 113 (b); 113 (a) ; and 113 (a) (8).

Petitioner contends that the persons who in 1931 transferred property to it solely in exchange for petitioner’s stock were not in “control” of petitioner “immediately after” the exchange, and that, therefore, section 112 (b) (5) is not applicable in deciding this issue. The respondent contends otherwise.

The dispute between the parties arises in connection with the 475 shares that were issued to Todd and the 75 shares that were issued to Knight. The respondent contends that since these shares, with the exception of two qualifying shares, were first issued to the Kush brothers, we must consider the Rush brothers as being in control of petitioner immediately after the transfer to petitioner of the oil properties at the time of petitioner’s organization, and that it is immaterial that the Rush brothers later, on the same day, May 7, 1931, transferred these shares to Todd and Knight.

We do not think the transfer of the 550 shares to Todd and Knight can be so disregarded in deciding this issue. This transfer was not a separate and independent transaction, but was an essential part of an integral plan. For income tax purposes this plan must be treated as a single transaction; the component steps thereof may not be treated separately; and control must be determined as of the completion of the plan. Halliburton v. Commissioner, 78 Fed. (2d) 265; Bassick v. Commissioner, 85 Fed. (2d) 8; Hazeltine Corporation v. Commissioner, 89 Fed. (2d) 513; Commissioner v. Schumacher Wall Board Corporation, 93 Fed. (2d) 79; United Light Power Co., 38 B. T. A. 477; affd., 105 Fed. (2d) 866; Sam Pickard, 40 B. T. A. 258.

Since the decision of Halliburton v. Commissioner, supra, we have held that the word “property” as used in section 203 (b) (4) of the Revenue Acts of 1924 and 1926, and section 112 (b) (5) of the Rev[45]*45enue Acts of 1928 and 1932 (all of which provisions arc identical except for the subtitle “Transfer to Corporation Controlled by Trans-feror” contained in the 1928 and 1932 Acts) includes money. Claude Neon Lights, Inc., 35 B. T. A. 424, 430; Cyrus S. Eaton, 37 B. T. A. 715. Therefore, in applying section 112 (b) (5), supra, to the facts in the instant proceeding the cash paid in for stock must also be considered along with the oil properties paid in for stock by the Bush brothers for the purpose of determining whether “immediately after ■ the exchange” the transferors of the property transferred to petitioner pursuant to the plan were in “control” of petitioner within the meaning of that term as defined in section 112 (j). Todd and Knight did not transfer any property to petitioner in exchange for their stock. The only property transferred to petitioner solely in exchange for stock was transferred by the Bush brothers and the cash subscribers, who, upon the completion of the plan only owned 1,450 out of 2,000 shares, or 72.5 percent of petitioner’s outstanding capital stock. Since this is less than the 80 percent required by section 112 (j), supra, it follows that the transferors were not in “control” of petitioner “immediately after” the exchange; that it thus becomes unnecessary to determine whether the amount of stock received by each transferor was substantially in proportion to his interest in the property prior to the exchange (cf. United Carbon Co. v. Commissioner, 90 Fed. (2d) 43); that the entire amount of the gain or loss realized in 1931 upon the transfer of the oil properties by the Bush brothers to petitioner was recognizable at that time; and that the transaction was, therefore, a taxable transaction.

The respondent, in support of his contention that the transfer of the oil properties by the Bush brothers to petitioner was a nontaxable transaction, cites Schmieg, Hungate & Kotzian, Inc., 27 B. T. A. 337; American Compress & Warehouse Co. v. Bender, 70 Fed. (2d) 655; Charles W. Nudelman, 35 B. T. A. 28; and J. Hampton Hoult, 24 B. T. A. 79. The Schmieg case turned on whether the petitioner in that case had met the burden of proving that Hungate, immediately after the transfer of the partnership assets, was the owner of one-third of petitioner’s common stock. We held that the petitioner had not met that burden and that, therefore, immediately after the exchange the transferors were in control of the corporation. Whether we correctly held in the Sehmieg case that the proof was insufficient to show that Flungate was the owner of one-third of the common stock of Schmieg, Hungate & Kotzian, Inc., prior to 1929 when it was actually issued in his name, we need not here decide. The important point is that our decision in that case turned on a lack of evidence as to ownership of stock. We have no lack of evidence in the instant case as to the ownership by Todd and Knight of the stock in petitioner which was issued to them on the first day [46]*46of the organization of the corporation in pursuance of the plan. In the American Compress case, tire contract to sell the 1,813 shares was entered into subsequent to the plan there involved, and was not a part of the plan.

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Columbia Oil & Gas Co. v. Commissioner
41 B.T.A. 38 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1940)

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Bluebook (online)
41 B.T.A. 38, 1940 BTA LEXIS 1240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/columbia-oil-gas-co-v-commissioner-bta-1940.