Corn Products Co. v. Commissioner

36 T.C. 969, 1961 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 79
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedSeptember 13, 1961
DocketDocket Nos. 31611, 79743
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 36 T.C. 969 (Corn Products Co. 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
Corn Products Co. v. Commissioner, 36 T.C. 969, 1961 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 79 (tax 1961).

Opinion

Tietjens, Judge:

These proceedings involve respondent’s disallowance of claims for excess profits tax relief under section 722, I.E.C. 1939, for the years 1942 and 1943. Petitioner seeks relief under section 722(b) (2) because of the severe drought in the Corn Belt in 1936 and the resulting abnormally high prices which it had to pay for corn in 1936 and 1937; and under section 722(b) (4) because of commitments, prior to the close of its base period, to changes in the character of its business by installing new equipment in some of its plants and by closing down one of the plants which, was operating at a loss and transferring its operations to other plants.

If it prevails in its claim for relief under section 722, petitioner claims the carryback of unused excess profits credits from 1944 to 1942 and from 1945 to 1943.

The evidence in this case was presented before a commissioner of this Court. The report of his findings of fact was served on the parties. In general, the commissioner has taken no objection to such findings, but the petitioner seeks two additional findings, to which we agree it is entitled. They are incorporated in findings appearing hereafter.

FINDINGS OP FACT.

All of the stipulated facts are found as set out in the written stipulation and exhibits attached thereto.

Petitioner is a New Jersey corporation with its principal office located in New York, New York. Its income and excess profits tax returns for the years involved were filed with the collector of internal revenue for the second district of New York.

Petitioner is engaged in the manufacture and sale of com products. It is a member of the wet-milling industry and is the largest producer in the industry. In the wet-milling industry the corn kernels are kept suspended in water throughout most of the milling processes. The wet-milling and dry-milling industries together utilize more than four-fifths of all of the corn entering manufacturing industries and more than two-fifths of all com sold from domestic farms. The chief products of the wet-milling industry are starch and its derivatives, com syrup and sugar. The products of the dry-milling industry are meal, grits, breakfast foods, and other such products.

The manufacture of commercial starch from com was begun in the United States about 1840. Soon thereafter com became the chief source of domestic starch. Previously, starch had been manufactured from potatoes and wheat.

During the base period years, 1936-1939, petitioner had operating plants in Argo and Pekin, Illinois, Kansas City, Missouri, and Edge-water, New Jersey. These plants were fully equipped for manufacturing and marketing petitioner’s corn products. They had daily grinding capacities, respectively, of 80,000 bushels, 49,000 bushels, 18,700 bushels, and 30,000 bushels of com. Com grinding was suspended at the Edgewater plant in 1927. Thereafter and during the base period years, that plant was used principally for finishing products partially processed at the other plants. Petitioner also owned, or had an interest in, foreign plants located in 13 foreign countries, and also owned a number of domestic subsidiaries.

Petitioner’s chief marketable products are starch, syrup, and sugar. Cornstarch, as such, is used principally for sizing paper and textiles. Only about 25 percent of the total production is used for food. Com syrup and sugar are used principally in confections, canned goods, and other manufactured food products. About 75 percent of petitioner’s production of starch, sugar, and syrup is sold in bulk to industrial users, .such as paper and textile manufacturers, bakers, brewers, can-ners, confectioners, and soft drink bottlers. The remaining 25 percent is sold as packaged goods to wholesalers and jobbers for distribution to retailers. During the base period years petitioner’s bulk sales of starch, syrup, and sugar accounted for about 50 percent of its total sales and its sales of packaged goods and byproducts about 25 percent each. Petitioner’s major byproducts were corn oil and stock feeds.

The wet milling of corn involves a number of highly technical operations, both mechanical and chemical. The com kernels are first cleaned and soaked in a warm solution of sulphur dioxide for softening. They are then run through degerminating mills and separators which separate the oil-bearing kernels from other component parts. The oil is then extracted from the germs and further treated, so that it becomes clear, edible corn oil. The remaining components, starch, gluten, and hulls, still in solution, are finely ground and the hulls removed by various screening and washing devices, leaving only the starch and gluten. This mixture is then pumped to high-speed centrifugal machines where the lighter gluten is separated from the heavier starch by centrifugal force. The starch is further treated by washing and filtering and is then ready either for drying and packaging or for conversion into syrup or sugar. The gluten, after further treatment, goes to the feed house, along with the husks, and becomes a high protein ingredient of corn gluten feed. A portion of the starch is marketed as such in various forms for particular uses and a somewhat larger portion is converted into syrup and sugar. Also, some of the starch is converted by treatment with chemicals and heat into dex-trine. In this form it is a fine, white to light brown powder with varying characteristics suitable for its intended uses.

In Tina,'kirig corn syrup an acidified solution of cornstarch is heated in large cylindrical pressure cookers called converters to a certain temperature and after being treated with soda ash is filtered and evaporated to the desired consistency. The syrup is then transparent, nearly colorless, and only slightly sweet. Com sugar is made by the same method as syrup except that more acid is used and the conversion time is extended resulting in the removal of more of the hydrol (molasses) and permitting more complete crystallization.

Under ordinary market conditions a bushel of corn weighs 56 pounds. When milled by the wet-milling process it yields approximately 30.8 pounds (55 percent) of starch, 14.5 pounds (26 percent) of feed, and 1.7 pounds (3 percent) of oil. The average moisture content is about 9 pounds (16 percent) per bushel.

Com sugar, in the first stage of processing, is known as dextrose hydrate. In a moisture-free form it is known as anhydrous dextrose. Petitioner marketed its dextrose under the trade name of Cerelose. About 90 percent of its sugar production during the base period was marketed in this form. Petitioner produced about 80 percent of the dextrose manufactured in the United States. It owned patents on the manufacturing process winch it leased to other manufacturers.

Petitioner’s operating plants at Argo, Pekin, and Kansas City, all had complete facilities for manufacturing starch, sugar, and other com products, as well as facilities for manufacturing shipping cartons and cans and for printing labels for packaged goods.

Among petitioner’s wholly owned domestic subsidiaries were Corn Products Sales Company, a New Jersey corporation, organized in 1921, and Corn Products Sales Company, a Massachusetts trust, organized in 1937. These subsidiaries served as sales agents and jobbers for petitioner’s products. Petitioner sold its products to them at the same price as to other customers.

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Related

Schenley Industries, Inc. v. Commissioner
42 T.C. 129 (U.S. Tax Court, 1964)
Connecticut Light & Power Co. v. Commissioner
40 T.C. 597 (U.S. Tax Court, 1963)
Corn Products Co. v. Commissioner
36 T.C. 969 (U.S. Tax Court, 1961)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
36 T.C. 969, 1961 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 79, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/corn-products-co-v-commissioner-tax-1961.