Commonwealth v. Coca-Cola Co.

58 Pa. D. & C.2d 324, 1972 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 244
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County
DecidedJanuary 28, 1972
DocketCommonwealth Docket, 1968, nos. 372 and 373
StatusPublished

This text of 58 Pa. D. & C.2d 324 (Commonwealth v. Coca-Cola Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Coca-Cola Co., 58 Pa. D. & C.2d 324, 1972 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 244 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1972).

Opinion

SWOPE, P. J.,

The Coca-Cola Corporation appeals herein from a resettlement by the taxing authorities of the Commonwealth of its franchise and corporate net income taxes for the calendar year, 1964. Following denial of its petition for review filed with the Board of Finance and Revenue, the taxpayer perfected an appeal to this court pursuant to section 1104 of The Fiscal Code of April 9, 1929, P. L. 343, as amended, 72 PS §1104. As the issues involved with respect to both franchise and corporate net income taxes are substantially identical, the appeals were consolidated for trial, held by agreement of the parties without a jury.

The issues raised in the instant case involve the timeliness of settlement, the valuation of the taxpayer’s capital stock, the construction of the numerators of the tangible property and gross receipts fractions in the computation of the Franchise and Corporate Net Income Tax Acts of June 1, 1889, P. L. 420, as amended, 72 PS §1871, and May 16, 1935, P. L. 208, as amended, 72 PS §3420b, and the burden of proof. Appellant objects to the resettlement in that: (1) It was not timely made; (2) the valuation of its capital stock and the numerator of the tangible property fraction were settled and resettled as reported by the taxpayer, and ought to be reduced; and (3) the resettlement included in the numerator of the gross receipts fraction certain sales proceeds which it claims should properly have been allocated outside of Pennsylvania. The involved components of the disputed resettlements are set forth below:

(1) VALUATION OF CAPITAL STOCK
(a) Originally reported by taxpayer . . .$585,856,108
(b) Settled .......................$585,856,108
(c) Resettled .....................$585,856,108
(d) Taxpayer’s present claim........$445,000,000
[327]*327(2) TANGIBLE PROPERTY FRACTION
(a) Originally reported by taxpayer . . .$ 1,225,929
156.851.100
(b) Settled .......................$ 1,225.929
156.851.100
(c) Resettled .....................$ 1,225,929
156.851.100
(d) Taxpayer’s present claim.......$ 854,186
156.851.100
(3) GROSS RECEIPTS FRACTION
(a) Originally reported by taxpayer . . .$ 974,173
564.100.907
(b) Settled.......................$ 20,698.016
564.100.907
(c) Resettled .....................$ 21,763,016
565.165.907
(d) Taxpayer’s present claim........$ 0
565.165.907

The Commonwealth contends that the settlement and resettlement of the taxpayer’s corporate net income tax and franchise tax for the calendar year 1964 was properly computed; that the taxpayer is barred from raising the issue of timeliness in that it failed to bring the issue to the attention of the department making the review; and that it has failed to meet its burden of proof with regard to the valuation of capital stock, the gross receipts fraction and the tangible property fraction.

FACTS

The record establishes that appellant is a Delaware corporation doing business in Pennsylvania under a certificate of authority issued originally on January 2, 1961. The certificate authorized Coca-Cola to “manufacture, process, grow, package, warehouse, merchan[328]*328dise, advertise, sell and promote the sale of food and soft drink products and related goods and wares.” During the year in question, three divisions of the Coca-Cola Corporation were engaged in activities in Pennsylvania, for the merchandising of coffee and tea, fountain syrup and citrus products.

Tea and coffee products of the Tenco Division were manufactured at plants in Morris Plains, N.J., and Linden, N.J., respectively. There were no Tenco Division manufacturing plants or sales offices in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. These products were produced and packaged for customers, major retail chain stores and regional coffee roasters and wholesalers, under private brand names. Sales in Pennsylvania were solicited by representatives headquartered at Linden, N.J. Orders were received either by mail or telephone from a customer or directly from a salesman and accepted or rejected at the sales office in Linden, N. J., from which billings were made. Like products of the Tenco Division, fountain syrup was manufactured at plants outside of Pennsylvania. The syrup was sold to authorized wholesalers approved at the taxpayer’s headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. Coca-Cola made no sales of fountain syrup directly to retailers. Purchase orders from authorized wholesalers were accepted or rejected at the out-of-State manufacturing plant to which they were submitted. Billings were made from the corporation’s Atlanta office. Territory or district managers were maintained in Pennsylvania to place point of purchase advertising, to assist retailers in the promotion of Coca-Cola products to customers, and to conduct advertising and marketing surveys. These employes neither solicited nor transmitted orders for the taxpayer’s products from either retailers or wholesalers.

The taxpayer’s Commonwealth sales of citrus products during the period in question were accomplished [329]*329by independent brokers who, having no authority to effect sales, solicited orders and submitted them to the taxpayer’s office in Orlando, Fla. If accepted, the orders were filled from warehouses outside of the State of Pennsylvania.

On June 1, 1963, the corporation acquired a manufacturing plant at Lansdale, Pa. The record shows that the plant was purchased without an intent to operate it, nor was it, in fact, used in connection with the business of the taxpayer. On May 1, 1964, the sale of the plant was negotiated by Coca-Cola from its office in Atlanta, Ga. The value of the plant was included by the taxpayer in both the numerator and denominator of the tangible property fraction for the franchise and corporate net income taxes, and was reflected in the settlement and resettlement of those taxes.

FINDING OF FACT

We make the following determinations after careful consideration of the specific requests for finding of fact by each of the parties. Commonwealth’s requests numbered 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 13 are statements of fact borne out by the record and where pertinent are narrated above or will be treated later in the body of our opinion. They are necessarily granted. Commonwealth’s request number 4 is granted insofar as the average market value of the taxpayer’s shares for 1964 as computed by the company officials was at least three times the settled or resettled valuation of $585,856,108. Commonwealth’s request number 7 is denied and we find that the nature of the taxpayer’s business activity in Pennsylvania did not include “sales” for the purpose of allocation of gross receipts to the numerator of the gross receipts fraction. Commonwealth’s request number 8 is denied in that the [330]

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58 Pa. D. & C.2d 324, 1972 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-coca-cola-co-pactcompldauphi-1972.