Crowe v. United States

4 Cl. Ct. 734, 54 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5040, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1453
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedMarch 26, 1984
DocketNos. 22-81T, 23-81T
StatusPublished

This text of 4 Cl. Ct. 734 (Crowe v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crowe v. United States, 4 Cl. Ct. 734, 54 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5040, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1453 (cc 1984).

Opinion

OPINION ON CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

PHILIP R. MILLER, Judge:

Facts

This is a suit for refund of federal income taxes paid for the years 1975 and 1976. The cases are presented for decision on cross-motions for summary judgment based on fully stipulated facts.

During such years, plaintiff Guthrie F. Crowe (hereinafter plaintiff),1 served as a United States District Judge for the District of the Canal Zone. As such, plaintiff’s salary was the same as that established for all United States District Judges.

Throughout his term on the bench, inclusive of the years in suit, plaintiff was required to and did reside in the Canal Zone, pursuant to the provisions of Title 3, Section 5(d) of the Act of October 18, 1962, Pub.L. No. 87-845, 76A Stat. 1 (commonly known as the Canal Zone Code).2 Since all land in the Canal Zone was owned by the United States 3, like other government employees plaintiff lived in a house provided for his use by the Panama Canal Company, an instrumentality of the United States, for which he was required to pay to the company, rent and utilities charges. During the [736]*736years in issue, plaintiff’s living quarters were situated between one-half and three-fourths of a mile from the United States District Courthouse.4

Court was held by plaintiff generally at the Federal Courthouse in Balboa, at the Pacific terminus of the Panama Canal. The business of the court also occasionally took plaintiff to the United States Administration Center at Cristobal, on the Caribbean side of the Canal Zone.

On his income tax returns for 1975 and 1976, plaintiff deducted $2,878 and $3,214, respectively, representing his annual payments for rent and electricity.5 Subsequently, the Internal Revenue Service disallowed the foregoing deductions and, thereupon, timely assessed deficiencies of $1,229 and $1,405 for 1975 and 1976, respectively, which plaintiff satisfied in full, together with statutory interest thereon. Upon the Commissioner’s disallowance of plaintiff’s claims for refund of the assessed amounts, plaintiff brought the instant actions, now consolidated.

Question Presented

Is plaintiff entitled to exclude from his income subject to tax the value of lodgings and utilities provided by the Panama Canal Company?

Discussion

Section 119 of the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C) provides for an exclusion from an employee’s gross income of:

the value by any * * * lodging furnished to him * * * by or on behalf of his employer for the convenience of the employer, but only if—
(2) in the case of lodging, the employee is required to accept such lodging on the business premises of his employer as a condition of his employment.

As plaintiff paid rent for his lodging, it could perhaps have been argued that its value was not included in his income and hence there is nothing to exclude. However, Treasury Regulations on Income Tax (1954 Code), § 1.119 — 1, provides that “the exclusion shall apply irrespective of whether a charge is made” and “In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the value of the lodging may be deemed to be equal to the amount charged.”

As Congress intended to tax all income except that specifically exempted, the terms of any exclusion provision are to be strictly construed. Commissioner v. LoBue, 351 U.S. 243, 246, 76 S.Ct. 800, 802, 100 L.Ed. 1142 (1956); General Investors Co. v. Commissioner, 348 U.S. 434, 436, 75 S.Ct. 478, 479, 99 L.Ed. 504 (1955); Commissioner v. Glenshaw Glass Co., 348 U.S. 426, 429-30, 75 S.Ct. 473, 475-76, 99 L.Ed. 483 (1955); Commissioner v. Jacobson, 336 U.S. 28, 49, 69 S.Ct. 358, 369, 93 L.Ed. 477 (1949). This rule equally applies to the exclusion provided by § 119; and thus failure by the employee to meet any one of the three conditions of subsection 119(2)6 will disqualify the exclusion and cause the value of the lodging to be included in gross income. Bob Jones University v. United States, 229 Ct.Cl. 340, 349-50, 670 F.2d 167, 173-74 (1982); Brown v. Commissioner, 719 F.2d 288, 289 (8th Cir.1983), aff’g Frensley v. Commissioner, 44 T.C.M. (CCH) 481 (1982); [737]*737Dole v. Commissioner, 43 T.C. 697, aff’d per curiam, 351 F.2d 308 (1st Cir.1965).

Although defendant contends that plaintiff cannot comply with any of the three conditions, as it is clear that plaintiff is unable to comply with the third, for purposes of the instant decision it is unnecessary to consider the others.

In Bob Jones University v. United States, 229 Ct.Cl. at 354-55, 670 F.2d at 176, the court approved as a definition of the phrase “lodging on the business premises of his employer”—

(1) living quarters that constitute an integral part of the business property, and
(2) premises on which the employer carries on some substantial segment of its business activities.

And it also further explained that “functional rather than spatial unity is determinative of whether lodging is on the employer’s business premises.” And see also Adams v. United States, 218 Ct.Cl. 322, 332, 585 F.2d 1060, 1066 (1978); Dole v. Commissioner, 43 T.C. 697, 708-09, aff’d per curiam, 351 F.2d 308 (1st Cir.1965); and Benninghoff v. Commissioner, 71 T.C. 216, 220 (1978), aff’d per curiam, 614 F.2d 398 (5th Cir.1980).

It cannot reasonably be maintained that merely because the government owns all housing in the Panama Canal Zone and rents it to its employees that the government conducts its business in the employees’ lodgings or that the employees are required to perform their business duties primarily or substantially in their lodgings rather than in their assigned offices.

The precise issue is not written on a tabula rasa. It has been decided adversely to the taxpayer in a number of cases. The most recent decision and one closest on its facts is Brown v. Commissioner, supra. There Brown, employed as a magistrate by the Canal Zone Government, likewise contended that the value of the lodging he rented from the government should be excluded from his gross income pursuant to I.R.C. § 119 because it was on the business premises of his employer. The court held that there was no error of either law or fact in the Tax Court decision denying the exclusion, which it summarized as follows (719 F.2d at 289)—

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Commissioner v. Jacobson
336 U.S. 28 (Supreme Court, 1949)
Commissioner v. Glenshaw Glass Co.
348 U.S. 426 (Supreme Court, 1955)
General American Investors Co. v. Commissioner
348 U.S. 434 (Supreme Court, 1955)
Commissioner v. LoBue
351 U.S. 243 (Supreme Court, 1956)
Darrell F. Brown v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
719 F.2d 288 (Eighth Circuit, 1983)
Dole v. Commissioner
43 T.C. 697 (U.S. Tax Court, 1965)
Benninghoff v. Commissioner
71 T.C. 216 (U.S. Tax Court, 1978)
Frensley v. Commissioner
1982 T.C. Memo. 399 (U.S. Tax Court, 1982)
Baker v. Commissioner
1983 T.C. Memo. 64 (U.S. Tax Court, 1983)
Adams v. United States
585 F.2d 1060 (Court of Claims, 1978)
Bob Jones University v. United States
670 F.2d 167 (Court of Claims, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
4 Cl. Ct. 734, 54 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5040, 1984 U.S. Claims LEXIS 1453, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crowe-v-united-states-cc-1984.