D. N. & E. Walter & Co. v. Commissioner

10 B.T.A. 620, 1928 BTA LEXIS 4056
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedFebruary 10, 1928
DocketDocket No. 7618.
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 10 B.T.A. 620 (D. N. & E. Walter & Co. v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Board of Tax Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D. N. & E. Walter & Co. v. Commissioner, 10 B.T.A. 620, 1928 BTA LEXIS 4056 (bta 1928).

Opinions

[628]*628OPINION.

ARundell:

As to the first issue, the D. N. & E. Walter & Co., Inc., contends that it acquired good will from the predecessor partnership of the value of $268,771, which it is entitled to have included in its invested capital, as a paid-in surplus, and that respondent erred in his determination of the tax liability for 1920 in failing to so include it. Respondent entered a general denial to petitioner’s contentions.

Succeeding to the business of the partnership of D. N. & E. Walter & Co. in 1896, the petitioner, bearing the same name, came into possession of an established business which for 38 years had been a successful enterprise. Founded in 1858, the business had been conducted under the same management, without change in business policies, continuing to market the same commodities, and with a uniformly satisfactory record of earnings and high return on the investment. Its sales territory covered all of the Pacific and a portion of the Rocky Mountain States. The evidence is that the reputation of the business for fair dealing was of the highest, and that the commodities which it handled were of the best grade. It appears further that with the acquisition of the business, there passed to the petitioner valuable agency rights which gave it a virtual monopoly on the products of certain eastern manufacturers who were leaders in their lines.

Two witnesses, both members of competitor firms which had enjoyed business relations with petitioner’s predecessor and who were familiar with the business as it was being conducted in 1896 and prior thereto, testified as to the reputation of the partnership for business integrity, the desirable character of its clientele, and the high class of commodities in which it dealt. Both because of their knowledge of the affairs of the partnership and their long experience in the same line of business, are qualified to give opinion evidence as to the value of the good will which passed to the petitioner in 1896. One of these witnesses has been engaged in the same line of business in San Francisco for the past 55 years, as a member of a nationally known business organization. The other had conducted a similar [629]*629business in the same city for 10 years prior to 1896. The first testified that had he, acting for his organization, sought to purchase the petitioner’s business in 1896, he would have been willing to have paid $250,000 for the good will. The latter expressed the opinion that the good will of petitioner’? business in 1896 was worth in the neighborhood of $250,000.

For the ten years immediately preceding incorporation, the earnings of the business represented a return of 11.7 per cent on the net tangible investment. During the last three years of this period the business was hampered and retarded by a financial depression or panic; credits were tightened, which resulted in the dropping off of sales; and losses were sustained through the financial embarrassment of customers to whom credit had been extended. As one of the petitioner’s officers stated, more time was devoted to the collection of accounts than to making sales. The situation was further complicated by the prevalence of a railroad strike which made it difficult to get merchandise shipments through from the East. If these three years be disregarded as abnormal and not representative of the normal level of profits, as indeed they should under the facts of this case, the earnings of the partnership represent a return of approximately 14 per cent on the net tangible investment. Analysis of the earnings of the petitioner for the four years immediately succeeding incorporation shows a like return on the net tangibles. Taking the evidence as a whole, we are of the opinion that the actual cash value of the good will acquired by the petitioner from the predecessor partnership was, at the date of acquisition, $225,000.

Petitioner seeks to have the whole of the good will value included in invested capital as a paid-in surplus. The net value of the tangible assets received from the partnership was equal to the par value of the stock given in exchange for all of the partnership assets. Good will is intangible property, section 325 (a), Revenue Act of 1918; and intangible property may not be included in invested capital as a paid-in surplus, Appeal of Herald-Despatch Co., 4 B. T. A. 1096. Petitioner acquired, with shares of stock, a mixed aggregate of tangible and intangible assets of a total cash value of $873,000. The par value of the shares of stock given in exchange for these assets was $648,000. The stock must be deemed to have been issued for the two classes of assets in the same proportion that the cash value of each class bears to the total cash value of the assets. Appeal of St. Louis Screw Co., 2 B. T. A. 649. The value of good will, $225,000, represents 25.773 per cent of the total value of the assets. Therefore, of the total par value of the stock issued for the assets of the partnership, 25.773 per cent thereof, or $167,009.04, is deemed to have been issued for the good will. Since the lower of the three limita[630]*630tions prescribed by section 326(a) (4) of the Revenue Act of 1918 under which good will may be included in invested capital, is, in this case, the par value of the stock issued therefor, the petitioner is entitled to have the good will included in invested capital in the amount of $167,009.04.

The second issue relates to respondent’s reduction of invested capital of the D. N. & E. Walter & Co., Inc., by the sums of $145.44, $32.80, and $5,646.43, for additional taxes for 1915, 1916, and 1917, respectively. In the petition the petitioner sets forth as facts in support of the allegation of error that these additional taxes “were paid on September 15, 1920, which was within the due date of said taxes as indicated by the notice and demand for the payment of the taxes by the Collector of Internal Revenue”; and that “the taxpayer had the use of and did use this amount in its business until it was paid to the Collector on September 15, 1920.” As a proposition of law, petitioner sets forth that these taxes “did not become due and payable until September 15, 1920,” and that they “ should not be deducted in their entirety from invested capital for 1920, but should be prorated from the due date of payment, namely, September 15, 1920, and only the prorated amount (108/366 of $5,824.67) or $1,718.75 deducted.” This issue, apparently, has been entirely abandoned by the petitioner, for nothing was said at the time of the hearing, and nothing is contained in the brief filed subsequently, in respect thereof. On the other hand, petitioner, without amendment of its petition, seeks to inject an entirely new issue which involves solely the merits of the assessment of these additional taxes. Respondent, in his brief, objects to the introduction of a new issue, and rightfully so. We may not assume jurisdiction of issues not properly raised in the pleadings. Appeals of Dixie Manufacturing Co., 1 B. T. A. 641, and Buffalo Wills-Sainte Claire Corporation, 2 B. T. A. 364. Respondent’s action in reducing invested capital for 1920 by the entire amount of additional taxes found due and assessed for 1915, 1916, and 1917, is sustained upon authority of Appeal of Hutchins Lumber & Storage Co., 4 B. T. A. 705; and Appeal of Berks Foundry & Manufacturing Co., 5 B. T. A. 756.

The third issue relates to respondent’s reduction of invested capital of the D. N. & E. Walter & Co., Inc., by the sum of $9,517.63 for additional income and profits taxes for 1918.

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D. N. & E. Walter & Co. v. Commissioner
10 B.T.A. 620 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1928)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
10 B.T.A. 620, 1928 BTA LEXIS 4056, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/d-n-e-walter-co-v-commissioner-bta-1928.