Connors, Inc. v. Commissioner

71 T.C. 913, 1979 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 163
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedFebruary 28, 1979
DocketDocket No. 10662-77
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 71 T.C. 913 (Connors, Inc. 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
Connors, Inc. v. Commissioner, 71 T.C. 913, 1979 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 163 (tax 1979).

Opinion

OPINION

Drennen, Judge:

Respondent determined deficiencies in petitioner’s income taxes for calendar years 1974,1975, and 1976 in the respective amounts of $8,123, $4,268, and $18,435. Certain adjustments in the statutory notice have been conceded. The remaining issues are:

(1) Whether during 1974, 1975, and 1976 petitioner was entitled to deduct bonus compensation expenses in the amounts accrued, but not paid, during those years when its overall method of tax accounting was the cash receipts and disbursements method.

(2) Whether the amount of $23,099, deducted by petitioner as accrued bonus compensation in 1973 and allowed by respondent as a deductible amount paid in 1974, should be taken into account under sections 481(a)1 and 481(b)(1), I.R.C. 1954, in computing petitioner’s taxable income for 1974.

This case was submitted fully stipulated under Rule 122, Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure. The stipulation of facts and related exhibits are incorporated herein by this reference. The pertinent facts are as follows.

Petitioner was incorporated under the laws of the State of Colorado on January 3, 1961. At the time it filed its petition in this proceeding its principal place of business was in Denver, Colo.

Petitioner filed its Federal income tax returns for the taxable years ended December 31, 1974, 1975, and 1976, with the Director, Internal Revenue Service Center at Ogden, Utah.

Petitioner was engaged in business as a manufacturer’s representative. Since 1961, William J. Connors has been president and sole stockholder of petitioner.

Since its incorporation, petitioner maintained its books and filed its Federal income tax returns under the cash receipts and disbursements method of accounting, except that it accrued bonuses payable each year to its principal officer, William J. Connors (as well as interest accrued to that officer in the years 1975 and 1976), on its books and deducted such amounts on its Federal tax return for each year on an accrual method of accounting. Compensation paid to other employees of the corporation was deducted by employing the cash receipts and disbursements method of accounting.

The amounts of accrued bonuses to William J. Connors shown on petitioner’s books and claimed as deductions on its Federal income tax returns for the taxable years ended December 31, 1973,1974,1975, and 1976, were as follows:

TYE Dec. 31— Amount of bonuses
1973 . .$23,099
1974 . . 36,341
1975 . . 45,000
1976 . . 83,400

The amounts of bonuses paid to William J. Connors in each of the taxable years were as follows:

TYE Dec. 31— Amount of bonuses
1974 .$23,099
1975 . 36,341
1976 . 45,000

The amounts of bonuses accrued on petitioner’s books were always paid by petitioner to its principal officer, William J. Connors, the following year, within 2y2 months after the close of the taxable year in which accrued.

Taxable income shown on the returns of petitioner was $4,550 in 1974, $46,297.35 in 1975, and $49,920.30 in 1976.

The timing of petitioner’s deductions for bonus compensation is governed by subchapter E, Accounting Periods and Methods of Accounting.2 Under section 446(a), the general rule is that taxable income shall be computed under the method of accounting on the basis of which the taxpayer regularly computes his income in keeping his books. However, if no method of accounting has been regularly used by the taxpayer, or if the method used does not clearly reflect income, under section 446(b) the Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate is authorized to compute the taxable income under such method as, in his opinion, does clearly reflect income. Subject to these provisions, section 446(c) describes the permissible methods of accounting as (1) the cash receipts and disbursements method; (2) an accrual method; (3) any other method permitted by chapter 1; or (4) any combination of the foregoing methods permitted under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate.

Petitioner does not dispute that if the cash receipts and disbursements method is applied to the bonus compensation, it is deductible only in the years paid. See secs. 1.446-l(c)(l)(i) and 1.461-l(a)(l), Income Tax Regs. Instead, petitioner argues that a combination of the cash and accrual methods is permissible if such combination clearly reflects income and is consistently used, citing sec. 1.446-l(c)( l)(iv)fa), Income Tax Regs.

This argument is answered by reading further in the regulation cited by petitioner:

Combinations of the foregoing methods, (a) In accordance with the following rules, any combination of the foregoing methods of accounting will be permitted in connection with a trade or business if such combination clearly reflects income and is consistently used. Where a combination of methods of accounting includes any special methods, such as those referred to in subdivision (iii) of this subparagraph, the taxpayer must comply with the requirements relating to such special methods. A taxpayer using an accrual method of accounting with respect to purchases and sales may use the cash method in computing all other items of income and expense. However, a taxpayer who uses the cash method of accounting in computing gross income from his trade or business shall use the cash method in computing expenses of such trade or business. Similarly, a taxpayer who uses an accrual method of accounting in computing business expenses shall use an accrual method in computing items affecting gross income from his trade or business. [Emphasis supplied.]

See also Massachusetts Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. United States, 288 U.S. 269, 273-274 (1933) (“It is settled beyond cavil that taxpayers other than insurance companies may not accrue receipts and treat expenditures on a cash basis, or vice versa. Nor may they accrue a portion of income and deal with the remainder on a cash basis, nor take deductions partly on one and partly on the other basis.”)

Since petitioner used the cash method of accounting in computing gross income from its business it must use the cash method in computing bonus compensation and other expenses of the business. We sustain respondent in disallowing petitioner’s deductions for bonus compensation in 1974, 1975, and 1976 in excess of the amounts paid.

Case law cited by petitioner for the proposition that a method of accounting clearly reflects income if consistently used and substantially in accord with the Commissioner’s regulations, see Klein Chocolate Co. v. Commissioner, 36 T.C. 142 (1961), or in accord with generally accepted accounting principles, see Sam W. Emerson Co. v. Commissioner, 37 T.C. 1063 (1962), are properly distinguishable.

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Connors, Inc. v. Commissioner
71 T.C. 913 (U.S. Tax Court, 1979)

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Bluebook (online)
71 T.C. 913, 1979 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 163, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/connors-inc-v-commissioner-tax-1979.