Dowd-Feder, Inc. v. Commissioner

10 T.C. 345, 1948 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 258
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedFebruary 24, 1948
DocketDocket No. 7793
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 10 T.C. 345 (Dowd-Feder, Inc. 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
Dowd-Feder, Inc. v. Commissioner, 10 T.C. 345, 1948 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 258 (tax 1948).

Opinion

OPINION.

Van Fossan, Judge:

The respondent determined a deficiency of $7,885.51 in income tax and an overassessment of $6,552.18 in excess profits tax for the year 1941. Taxpayer alleges as error that:

1. In arriving at the excess profits credit for 1942 and resultant unused excess profits credit carry-back to 1941, the Commissioner erred in holding that the application of the so-called “75% rule” under Internal Revenue Code Section 713 (e) (1) precludes allowance for relief under Section 722.
2. The Commissioner erred in refusing to permit reconstruction of 1939 excess profits net income in arriving at the excess profits credit for 1942, and resultant carry-back of unused excess profits credit in 1941.
3. In calculating the carry-back to 1941 of the 1942 unused excess profits credit, the Commissioner erred in computing the excess profits credit for 1942 at only $58,620.59, rather than at $66,098.02, which latter figure is arrived at by applying both the “75% rule” under Section 713 (e) (1) to the base year 1938 and the reconstructed excess profits net income of $88,338.43 to the base year of 1939 (that reconstructed excess profits net income figure of $88,338.43 for 1939 having been recognized by the Commissioner in allowing excess profits credit for years prior to 1942 — as set out in Paragraphs (4) and (5) above.)

The facts were stipulated as follows:

The petitioner is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Ohio, with its principal place of business in Cleveland, Ohio. Petitioner’s income and excess profits tax returns for the years 1941 and 1942 were duly and timely filed with the collector of internal revenue for the eighteenth district of Ohio, at Cleveland, Ohio.

During the entire period from January 1, 1936, to and including December 31,1939, and continuously thereafter until the present date, the petitioner has been a distributor of and a dealer in Chrysler and Plymouth automobiles, manufactured by the Chrysler corporation. From October 6 to November 28, 1939, all manufacturing operations of the Chrysler corporation were interrupted by a strike at its factories. As a result of the strike, deliveries of new cars to dealers were curtailed. Petitioner’s normal operations and sales during the months of October, November, and December, 1939, were interrupted because it was unable to purchase its normal requirements of new cars. This strike and the diminished operations resulting from it were events unusual and peculiar in the experience of the petitioner. On January 20, 1944, the petitioner duly filed on Form 991, applications for relief under section 722 of the Internal Revenue Code, relating to its calendar years 1941 and 1942, with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue at Washington, D. C.

Information submitted by the taxpayer has established that, as a result of the Chrysler strike and the resulting interruption of its normal business, its actual earnings for 1939 in the amount of $63,151.29 were abnormally low and that its actual average base period net income is an inadequate standard of normal earnings under the provisions of section 722 (b) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Petitioner’s excess profits tax return for the calendar year 1941 disclosed a total liability for excess profits tax in the amount of $62,-291.18, which has been assessed and paid. Petitioner’s excess profits tax return for the calendar year 1942 disclosed no liability for excess profits tax because it showed a deficit in excess profits net income for that year of $29,894.40 after deducting, from an excess profits net income of $33,544.69, the specific exemption of $5,000 and an excess profits credit based on income of $58,439.09.

On January 30, 1945, the Commissioner issued a statutory notice in which it was determined that there was a deficiency in income tax liability of the petitioner for the taxable year ended December 31, 1941, in the amount of $7,885.51 and that there was an over-assessment of excess profits tax liability for that taxable year in the amount of $6,552.18. In making such determination, the petitioner’s application for relief for 1941 under section 722 filed on January 20, 1944, was partially allowed in the amount of $2,990.97 and disallowed to the extent of $1,933.51.

The Commissioner has determined and the petitioner now agrees that the amount of $61,010.60 represents a fair and just amount representing normal earnings to be used as a constructive average base period net income for the purpose of excess profits credit for the year 1941 only under the provisions of section 722 of the Internal Revenue Code.

On April 30, 1943, the petitioner filed a claim for refund on Form 843 for the year 1941 in the amount of $10,313.57 under the provisions of section 710 (c) of the code, in which it was contended that the petitioner is entitled to an excess profits credit carry-back of the unused excess profits credit for the year 1942 in the amount of $29,894.40. The computation of tax liability submitted with that claim indicated an overassessment of excess profits tax for the year 1941 of $14,947.20 and a deficiency of income tax'for the year 1941 of $4,633.63, or a net overassessment of $10,313.57. In the aforesaid claim for refund on Form 843 for the year 1941, petitioner contends that the excess profits credit for the year 1942 should be based on the constructive average base period net income determined under section 722 after applying the so-called 75 per cent rule provided for in section 713 (e) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code. Using this basis of computation, the petitioner contends on Form 843 that the allowable credit for 1942 should be $66,098.02. The Commissioner denied this contention, and the claim for refund on Form 843 was disallowed in the above notice of deficiency dated January 30, 1945.

In computing its excess profits tax for the taxable years involved herein, the petitioner is entitled to use an excess profits credit based upon net earnings within the base period years of 1936 through 1939, in accordance with section 713 of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended.

The Commissioner admits that petitioner’s earnings for 1939 (prior to taxes) should be reconstructed under section 722 from the actual amount of $63,151.29 to the reconstructed amount of $88,338.43, and the excess profits credit'for 1942 could then be computed as follows:

1936 — Actual excess profits net income_$91,482.74
1987— “ “ “ “ “ 57,183.82
1938— “ “ “ “ “ 7,037.39
19381— “ « « « « _$63,151.29
Add adjustment under section 722_ 25,187.14
-:- 88,338.43
Aggregate_ 244,042.38
Constructive average base period net income_ 61,010.60
95 per cent of constructive average base period net income_ 57,960.07
Less net capital reduction — $18,689.37 x 6 per cent_ 1,121.36
Excess profits credit-.;_■_ 56, 838.71

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

Related

United States Rubber Co. v. Commissioner
29 T.C. 1268 (U.S. Tax Court, 1958)
Dayton Rubber Co. v. Commissioner
26 T.C. 389 (U.S. Tax Court, 1956)
Brown Paper Mill Co. v. Commissioner
23 T.C. 47 (U.S. Tax Court, 1954)
Midvale Co. v. Commissioner
19 T.C. 1216 (U.S. Tax Court, 1953)
Southern California Edison Co. v. Commissioner
19 T.C. 935 (U.S. Tax Court, 1953)
Block One Thirty-Nine, Inc. v. Commissioner
17 T.C. 1364 (U.S. Tax Court, 1952)
Acme Breweries v. Commissioner
15 T.C. 682 (U.S. Tax Court, 1950)
Dowd-Feder, Inc. v. Commissioner
10 T.C. 345 (U.S. Tax Court, 1948)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
10 T.C. 345, 1948 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 258, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dowd-feder-inc-v-commissioner-tax-1948.