Diefenthal v. United States

367 F. Supp. 506, 33 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 416, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10978
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedNovember 20, 1973
DocketCiv. A. 70-3582, 70-3583
StatusPublished

This text of 367 F. Supp. 506 (Diefenthal v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Diefenthal v. United States, 367 F. Supp. 506, 33 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 416, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10978 (E.D. La. 1973).

Opinion

JACK M. GORDON, District Judge:

In this tax case the Commissioner of Internal Revenue utilized section 482 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S.C. § 482 (1970), to allocate net income of $161,753.53 for the tax year 1966 from a foreign corporation, which is exempt from United States income tax, to a domestic corporation, Southern Scrap Material Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Scrapco), which is subject to tax. In addition, the Commissioner found that the foreign corporation’s sole shareholder, Stanley M. Diefenthal (hereinafter referred to as Stanley), who is also a shareholder of Scrapco, received a constructive dividend in the amount of such allocated income. Following payment of the assessed tax and denial of their claims for refund, Scrap-co and Stanley, along with the latter’s wife, filed suits against the United States in this Court seeking tax refunds on the theory that the Commissioner improperly allocated the income from the foreign corporation to Scrapco. The cases were consolidated for trial without a jury. Because the Court finds overwhelming evidence presented at trial to support the taxpayers' allegations, judgment is rendered in favor of Scrapco and the Diefenthals.

Scrapco was organized around the turn of the century by Stanley’s father, Adolph Diefenthal (hereinafter referred to as Adolph). Since its inception and until 1965, when Adolph and his wife died, Scrapco was wholly owned by Adolph. Under the terms of their wills, one-third of the stock of Scrapco passed to Stanley, and approximately one-third passed to each of Stanley’s two sons. Stanley was named as executor under the wills, and also was named as trustee of the stock interests which passed to Stanley’s two sons.

The corporation engaged in the business of purchasing, processing and selling scrap metal. As the business devel *508 oped, Scrapco received orders from Japanese steel manufacturers, which required Scrapco to deliver the scrap to a port or ports in Japan. In order to fix the cost of each such shipment in advance, Scrapco established an unvarying policy of chartering vessels only on a voyage charter basis, at a set amount for the trip, from the company’s headquarters in New Orleans to the port of destination in Japan. Under the voyage basis of charter, Scrapco’s cost of transportation of the steel would not vary in the event unforeseen difficulties resulted in a trip of a duration longer than anticipated. Stanley tried to persuade his father that Scrapco should hire vessels on a time charter basis, and thereby realize considerable savings if the trip proceeded without any incident causing delay. He was, however, unsuccessful in convincing his father that the company should assume the risks incident to time chartering vessels, because of his father’s adamantly expressed belief that the scrap business with which he was familiar should not become intertwined with the unknown dangers of the shipping business.

Notwithstanding his father’s refusal to permit Scrapco to enter the shipping business, Stanley, beginning in the niid 1950’s, did go ahead and form his own domestic corporations, which time-chartered vessels and then in turn voyage-chartered the vessels to Scrapco. Thus Stanley’s capital assumed the risk of delayed shipment and profited to the extent the trips were completed without incident.

In the early 1960’s Stanley set up a Panamanian corporation, Fukaya Trading Company, S.A. (hereinafter referred to as Fukaya) for the purpose of establishing a brokerage agency in Japan to solicit and handle business for Scrapco in return for a commission of one percent of sales. This corporation had an office in Japan and employed three to six employees. It used the trade name of “Southern Scrap Far East, Ltd.” It was formed to act as agent for Scrapco in Japan because of unsatisfactory results achieved by independent agents used prior thereto.

Eventually Stanley liquidated the aforesaid domestic corporations which had engaged in the time chartering business, and properly reported any income realized on such liquidations as capital gain. See, I.R.C. sections 331, 1221, 26 U.S.C. §§ 331, 1221 (1970). Then he began using Fukaya, under the trade name of Compañía Transporte Arroyo (hereinafter referred to as CTA), to handle the time charters previously handled by his domestic corporations. This had a dual tax advantage. The income from time charters became ' exempt from United States taxation as long as it was retained in the foreign corporate entity. I.R.C. section 883(a)(1), 26 U.S.C. § 883(a)(1) (1970) (exempting earnings derived from the operation of a ship documented under the laws of a foreign country). See also, I.R.C. section 954(b)(2), 26 U.S.C. § 954(b)(2) (1970) (excluding foreign shipping from the definition of “foreign base company income” for purposes of saving American shareholders from any obligation to report income under Subpart F). See generally, B. Bittker & J. Eustice, Federal Income Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders, |fl7.05, at 17-21 (1971). Furthermore, because the ship chartering income accounted for more than seventy percent of Fukaya’s total income, the sales income from the brokerage office in Japan was similarly exempt until actually distributed to an American shareholder. I.R.C. section 954(b)(3)(A), 26 U.S.C. § 954(b)(3) (A) (1970).

A problem arose when Japanese officials refused to allow Fukaya, as a foreign corporation, to operate its sales office under an assumed trade name. Accordingly, upon advice of a Japanese consultant, Stanley formed a Panamanian subsidiary of Fukaya, Southern Scrap Far East, Ltd., S.A., and then registered its name in Japan. As indicated by correspondence among Stanley and his consultants in Japan and an attorney in Panama, Southern Scrap Far *509 East, Ltd., S.A. was intended to be a corporation in name only, and never functioned as a business entity. The Japanese sales activities continued to be on behalf of the parent, Fukaya. The income always went to Fukaya directly, and expenses were paid by Fukaya directly. Accounting records consistently show the income and expenses, ¡assets and liabilities, as those of Fukaya. Accordingly, Stanley treated the sales income as income of Fukaya in the information returns filed with the United States government, but reported the sales income as income of Southern Scrap Far East, Ltd., S.A. on returns filed with the Japanese government. The manner of reporting in Japan was in accordance with his consultant’s advice.

The organizational chart thus looked as follows in 1966:

STANLEY’S sons % owners

Southern Scrap Material Co.. Ltd.

(S CRAP CO) —American corporation in the scrap metal business

^STANLEY Ys'owner sole owner

-Fukaya Trading Company, S.A. (FUKAYA)- — Panamanian corporation engaged in brokerage and chartering businesses: .

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Bluebook (online)
367 F. Supp. 506, 33 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 416, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10978, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/diefenthal-v-united-states-laed-1973.