De Haven v. Fahs

176 F. Supp. 316, 4 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5103, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2788
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedJune 19, 1959
DocketCiv. Nos. 381, 382, Ocala, 3867, Jacksonville
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 176 F. Supp. 316 (De Haven v. Fahs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
De Haven v. Fahs, 176 F. Supp. 316, 4 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5103, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2788 (S.D. Fla. 1959).

Opinion

SIMPSON, District Judge.

These cases, consolidated for trial by Order of Court, pursuant to agreement of counsel, for the recovery of corporate income and declared value excess profits taxes and interest thereon were tried before the Court without a jury. From the pleadings, documentary exhibits, testimony, oral argument and written briefs of counsel, the Court makes the following

Findings of Fact.

1. Lake Eloise Groves, Inc., is a dissolved Florida corporation (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the company). It was incorporated under the laws of the State of Florida on April 16, 1928.

2. The company owned and operated approximately 272 acres of citrus groves in and near the City of Winter Haven, Florida, which property was acquired from a corporation known as Hundred Lakes Corporation during the year 1928. The corporation forfeited its charter to the State of Florida for non-payment of its capital stock tax on September 19, 1936. The business of the corporation was continued and corporate income tax returns were filed on its behalf by Growers Loan & Guaranty Company of Tampa, Florida, as Trustee, for the fiscal years ended April 30, 1942 through 1943, inclusive.

In filing the company’s return for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1942, an income tax liability of $7,510.77 was indicated and paid in full as follows:

Date of Payment Amount
June 18, 1942 $ 1,877.70
October 15, 1942 1,877.70
February 3, 1943 1,877.70
April 16, 1943 1,877.67

In filing the company’s return for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1943, an income tax and declared value excess profits tax liability of $31,702.07 was indicated, which was paid in full as follows:

Date of Payment Amount
September 20, 1943 $ 429.83
July 23, 1943 7,500.00
January 12, 1944 7,925.50
January 22, 1944 7,925.50
April 24, 1944 7,921.24

The Growers Loan & Guaranty Company was trustee of the company’s assets under a trust instrument dated October 14, 1932, which gave it full power to control and operate the citrus grove property.

3. On October 15, 1943, John A. Snively, Sr., now deceased, owned approximately 94% of the company’s preferred stock outstanding and approximately 50% of its common stock.

4. On November 1, 1943, the company entered into an agreement to convey all of its assets, including the 272 acres of citrus grove, to John A. Snively, Jr., as trustee of the Snively Trust for $135,930 in cash and an assumption of all existing liabilities.

The Snively Trust was created by an instrument dated December 28, 1941. John A. Snively, Jr., the trustee of this [318]*318trust, was the son of John A. Snively, Sr., deceased, and the beneficiaries of the Snively Trust were the grandchildren of John A. Snively, Sr.

The Deed to the citrus grove was dated November 15, 1943, and was delivered, together with an assignment of other assets belonging to the company, to John A. Snively, Jr., trustee, sometime after December 10, 1943, following an Order of the Circuit Court of Polk County, Florida, approving and authorizing the sale on behalf of the dissolved corporation. At the time of delivery of this Deed, John A. Snively, Jr., executed a new Trust Agreement setting forth his duties with respect to the Lake Eloise grove.

5. Ford J. DeHaven is the sole surviving statutory trustee of the assets of Lake Eloise Groves, Inc., the dissolved Florida corporation. In filing the corporation’s Federal income tax return for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1944, Mr. DeHaven claimed a loss on the sale of $503,225.58. This loss was sufficient to wipe out the corporation’s taxable net income for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1944.

6. On May 12, 1945, claims for refund (Form 843) were filed, seeking a refund of the income tax paid by Eloise Groves, Inc., for its fiscal year ended April 30, 1942, in the amount of $7,-510.77, and a similar claim for its fiscal year ended April 30, 1943, in the total amount of $31,702.07, consisting of income tax in the amount of $27,101.33 and declared value excess profits tax in the amount of $4,600.74, signed by “John A. Snively, Jr. — Trustee-Assignee of Lake Eloise Groves, Inc., Dissolved.” These claims were filed on the theory that the loss resulting from the sale of the citrus grove and other assets of Lake Eloise Groves, Inc., during its fiscal year ended April 30, 1944, created a net operating loss carryback which was more than sufficient in amount to eliminate the corporation’s entire tax liability for the fiscal years ended April 30, 1942 and 1943, under Sections 23(a) and 122 of the 1939 Code, 26 U.S.C.A. §§ 23(a), 122.

7. Subsequently, an Agent of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, in auditing the return filed by the company for its fiscal year ended April 30, 1944, determined that the loss suffered in the amount of $503,225.58 was not allowable on the grounds that the loss deduction was prohibited under the provisions of Section 24(b) (1) (A) and Section 24 (b) (1) (B) of the 1939 Code, 26 U.S. C.A. § 24(b) (1) (A, B).

8. After the Agent’s examination and prior to the date the statutory notice of deficiency was issued, John A. Snively, Sr., executed an agreement in writing dated June 10, 1946, which acknowledged that he was a transferee of the assets of Lake Eloise Groves, Inc., the dissolved corporation, and agreed to the payment of all deficiencies in income tax and excess profits tax which might be ultimately determined to be due from the company for its fiscal years ended April 30, 1942 to 1945, inclusive.

9. A statutory notice of deficiency dated October 2,1950, was issued against John A. Snively, Sr., as transferee of the assets of Lake Eloise Groves, Inc., the dissolved corporation. The deficiencies asserted against John A. Snively, Sr., as trustee, were as follows:

Fiscal Year Ended 4-30-42 4-30-43 4-30-44 Total
Income Tax 44.83 1,752.15 32,286.01 34,082,99
Declared Value
Excess Profits Tax 666.14 43,892.18 44,558.32
Excess Profits Tax 190,614.22 190,614.22
25% Delinquency Penalty 42,888.27 42,888.27
44.83 2,418.29 309,680.68 312,143.27

[319]*31910. Thereafter, Mr. Snively filed a petition in the Tax Court of the United States seeking a redetermination of the deficiencies asserted against him as transferee of the company.

11. On April 22, 1953, the Tax Court promulgated its findings of fact and opinion (Snively v. Commissioner, 20 T.C. 136), holding, in effect, that the loss claimed by Lake Eloise Groves, Inc., as shown by its return for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1944, was allowable in full and that the company had suffered a net operating loss carryback sufficient to eliminate its entire taxable net income for the fiscal years ended April 30, 1942 and 1943. Following this, the decision of the Court was entered on September 9, 1953, which ultimately became final.

12. On January 25, 1952, John A.

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176 F. Supp. 316, 4 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5103, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2788, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/de-haven-v-fahs-flsd-1959.