Cooper v. Commissioner

64 T.C. 576, 1975 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 113
United States Tax Court·Decided July 16, 1975·No. Docket Nos. 1038-73, 1039-73·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

Fay, Judge:

Respondent determined deficiencies of $14,769 and $147,051 in the Federal income tax of Revel D. and Josephine G. Cooper for 1967 and 1968; and $2,832 and $4,148.13 in the Federal income tax of the R. D. Cooper Construction Co., Inc., for the fiscal years ended June 30, 1968, and September 30, 1968. By an amendment to answer, respondent proposed an additional deficiency of $44,276.82 in the Federal income tax of the R. D. Cooper Construction Co., Inc., for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1968.

We are to decide if respondent is authorized under section 482 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended,1 to allocate rental income from a corporation to its controlling shareholders when they have permitted the corporation to use certain of their assets, without charge, on jobs which it was engaged to perform.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Certain facts have been stipulated and are found as stipulated.

Revel D. and Josephine G. Cooper, husband and wife, were residents of Zachary, La., when their petition herein was filed. They filed joint Federal income tax returns for 1967 and 1968 with the District Director of Internal Revenue, New Orleans, La.

The R. D. Cooper Construction Co., Inc., is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Louisiana. Its principal place of business was in Zachary, La., when its petition herein was filed. It filed U.S. corporation income tax returns for the fiscal years ended June 30, 1968, September 30, 1968, and September 30, 1969, with the District Director of Internal Revenue, New Orleans, La.

At all times relevant, the Coopers held all the outstanding shares of stock in the R. D. Cooper Construction Co., Inc., as community property.

Prior to July 1, 1967, the Coopers were the proprietors of a construction firm established by Revel in 1945 and styled “R. D. Cooper Construction Co.” (hereafter referred to as the firm). Personally managed by Revel and staffed by over 200 employees, the firm engaged principally in the installation of electric powerlines.

Pursuant to a decision made by the Coopers to conduct the firm’s business in corporate form, the R. D. Cooper Construction Co., Inc. (hereafter referred to as the corporation), was organized on June 30, 1967. On that day Revel offered to transfer to the corporation certain of the firm’s assets which were valued at $661,185. The board of directors accepted the assets on behalf of the corporation and agreed that in exchange the corporation would issue 50 shares of capital stock, the value of which was fixed by the directors at $102,423; issue a promissory note in the amount of $130,000, payable in 12 years and bearing interest at the annual rate of 8 percent; and assume firm liabilities amounting to $428,762.

The Coopers did not include among the assets which they transferred to the corporation, the buildings and equipment which they had acquired for use in the firm’s operations. Rather the Coopers agreed that these assets and such other depreciable property as they would subsequently acquire for use in the business would be available to the corporation free of charge until the corporation’s net annual income, computed under the completed contract method of accounting exceeded $50,000. The corporation had only to pay for the maintenance of the assets while using them on jobs which it was engaged to perform.2 Throughout the period in issue the corporation acquired no depreciable assets of its own. Instead it used those placed at its disposal by the Coopers. On its returns filed for the fiscal years ended June 30, 1968, September 30, 1968, and September 30, 1969, the corporation reported gross profits derived from construction contracts in the following amounts: $237,132, $161,632, and $693,706, respectively.

After the corporation was organized, the Coopers entered into no new construction contracts personally; but they did retain ownership of 56 contracts which were in the process of completion on June 30,1967. As of that date, the Coopers had earned $463,172 in gross profits on these contracts; but they had not as yet been required to report these amounts under the completed contract method of accounting.

When the corporation was organized, the entire staff of the firm passed into the corporation’s employ. Therefore out of necessity the Coopers relied on the corporation to complete the 56 contracts for them. Services performed by the corporation in connection with these contracts constituted 75 percent of the corporation’s work in the second half of 1967 and 10.4 percent in the first half of 1968. By June 30, 1968, the 56 contracts were completed. The Coopers recognized gross profits of $830,945 on them.

The corporation was not compensated by the Coopers for the services it performed in connection with the 56 contracts. In an arm’s-length transaction it would have charged them $152,053.64 for the services performed in the latter half of 1967 and $50,684.55 for those performed in the first half of 1968.

On their joint Federal income tax returns filed for 1967 and 1968 the Coopers reported taxable income of $239,953 and $131,130.

On its U.S. corporation income tax returns filed for its fiscal years ended June 30, 1968, September 30, 1968, and September 30, 1969, the corporation reported taxable income of $26,570, $9,896, and $46,864.

OPINION

The Commissioner contends that a material distortion in the petitioners’ income resulted when the corporation used assets belonging to the Coopers on jobs which it was engaged to perform, without having to pay rent. To eliminate this distortion, the Commissioner proposes to impute to the Coopers a reasonable rental for the corporation’s use of their assets on jobs which it had contracted to perform, and to allow the corporation a commensurate rental expense deduction. We are to decide if the Commissioner is authorized by section 482 to make such an allocation.

Section 482 authorizes the Commissioner to allocate income between or among commonly controlled trade or business organizations.3 The Commissioner’s authority to make the proposed allocation therefore depends upon whether in organizing the corporation, the Coopers withdrew from active engagement in a trade or business.4 In our opinion, they did not.

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Cooper v. Commissioner, 64 T.C. 576, 1975 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 113 (tax 1975).

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Cooper v. Commissioner
64 T.C. 576 (U.S. Tax Court, 1975)