E. Turgeon Constr. Co. v. Commissioner

1960 T.C. Memo. 4, 19 T.C.M. 5, 1960 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 283
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJanuary 27, 1960
DocketDocket No. 58412.
StatusUnpublished

This text of 1960 T.C. Memo. 4 (E. Turgeon Constr. Co. 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
E. Turgeon Constr. Co. v. Commissioner, 1960 T.C. Memo. 4, 19 T.C.M. 5, 1960 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 283 (tax 1960).

Opinion

E. Turgeon Construction Co., Inc. v. Commissioner.
E. Turgeon Constr. Co. v. Commissioner
Docket No. 58412.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1960-4; 1960 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 283; 19 T.C.M. (CCH) 5; T.C.M. (RIA) 60004;
January 27, 1960
Peter Palombo, Jr., Esq., for the petitioner. Manning K. Leiter, Esq., for the respondent.

KERN

Memorandum Findings of Fact and Opinion

Respondent determined a deficiency in the income tax of petitioner for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1950, in the sum of $18,917.76. To some extent this deficiency resulted from respondent's determination that petitioner's net operating loss carryback from the fiscal year ended April 30, 1951, was $644.03 instead of $32,281.93 as disclosed in petitioner's return for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1951. One of the items involved in respondent's reduction of this net operating loss carryback was the disallowance*284 of a deduction on account of interest in the amount of $12,741.67, paid by petitioner to Evangeliste Turgeon in the fiscal year ended April 30, 1951, which respondent determined was not deductible in that year. Other adjustments made by respondent in his notice of deficiency relating to the fiscal years ended April 30, 1950 and 1951, which were put at issue by the original petition filed herein, have been settled by the parties.

By an amendment to the petition petitioner alleges that it is entitled to an additional deduction in the fiscal year 1950, not claimed in its return for that year, on account of an amount of $10,020.17 paid to a subcontractor of petitioner in excess of the original subcontract price which petitioner alleges accrued in the fiscal year ended April 30, 1950, although it was not paid until August 21, 1951.

By an amendment to the answer respondent asks an increased deficiency in the amount of $4,225.98. With regard to this issue respondent contends that whereas in the notice of deficiency he disallowed the sum of $41,379, claimed as a deduction on account of addition to a reserve for contingent contract losses, he should have disallowed the entire amount of*285 that reserve in the sum of $52,500.

Findings of Fact

Some of the facts herein were stipulated by the parties. The stipulation and the exhibits attached thereto are made a part of our findings by this reference.

E. Turgeon Construction Co., Inc., the petitioner in this proceeding, is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Rhode Island. It is hereinafter sometimes referred to as "the corporation." It was incorporated on May 7, 1946, and has its principal office at 42 Weybosset Street, Providence, Rhode Island. The corporation's corporate income tax returns for the taxable years ended April 30, 1950, and April 30, 1951, were filed with the then collector of internal revenue for the district of Rhode Island.

At all times pertinent hereto the corporation was engaged in the general contracting business, specializing in the construction, reconstruction, and repair of buildings. It was customary for the corporation to be occupied with the work on several contracts simultaneously. Most of these contracts were of a long-term nature; the period from the execution of the contract to the completion and acceptance of the work of the contract was greater than 1 year. The corporation*286 reported profit and loss on such construction contracts in the year of completion. It was on an accrual basis of accounting for income and expenses not attributable to the long-term contracts.

Evangeliste Turgeon, hereinafter sometimes referred to as "Turgeon," operated the construction business as a sole proprietorship from approximately 1900 until May 7, 1946, when he caused the corporation to be formed and transferred to it the assets of his business, subject to liabilities. At all times relevant herein the four sons of Evangeliste were the only officers and directors of the corporation.

In 1946 the corporation became interested in submitting a bid for the construction of a Veterans Administration hospital at Providence, Rhode Island (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "the hospital"). An agent of a bonding company examined the books of the corporation in connection with the two bonds which the corporation would be required to submit if it made a bid and if the bid were accepted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which was the agency of the Government responsible for the construction. These two bonds were the "bid bond" which would guarantee to the recipient of the bid that*287 if the corporation was awarded the contract it would enter into a final agreement, and the "performance and payment bond" which would guarantee payment by petitioner for all material used and labor employed in the construction of the hospital. On the basis of the balance sheet examination, the agent of the bonding company determined that it was doubtful that the bonds could be obtained in view of the underwriting requirement that a contractor such as petitioner corporation have working capital equal to approximately 10 per cent of the contract price. This requirement was necessitated by a feature of such contracts as the hospital contract whereby the Government retained a percentage of the contract price until completion of the work under the contract. The bonding company through its agent required that the corporation obtain $150,000 in additional working capital before it could furnish bonds.

Evangeliste Turgeon agreed to advance the necessary $150,000. The bonding company agreed to furnish the bonds as they were required, and did so as agreed. The corporation submitted a bid on the hospital contract. In the summer of 1946 the corporation's bid on the hospital contract was accepted.

*288 By an indemnification agreement dated August 30, 1946, Evangeliste Turgeon and his sons personally indemnified the bonding company from any loss on the performance and payment bond.

On September 26, 1946, Evangeliste Turgeon loaned $150,000 to the corporation. At or about the same time he received $150,000 from Delphina Realty Company, another corporation, all of the stock of which he owned. This payment by Delphina Realty Company (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "Delphina") was credited on December 31, 1946, against the balance due him from pervious loans made by him to that company in the amount of $265,687.99.

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1960 T.C. Memo. 4, 19 T.C.M. 5, 1960 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/e-turgeon-constr-co-v-commissioner-tax-1960.