Estate of Cury v. Commissioner

23 T.C. 305
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedNovember 23, 1954
DocketDocket Nos. 34165, 34388, 34715, 34716, 34842, 34843, 34863-34865, 34906, 34907, 34953, 34961-34971, 38412, 40703-40706, 40782
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 23 T.C. 305 (Estate of Cury 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
Estate of Cury v. Commissioner, 23 T.C. 305 (tax 1954).

Opinion

OPINION.

Raum, Judge:

Dahar Cury, a native of Syria, settled in Norton, Virginia, in 1910 with his wife, Elizabeth Haddad Cury. In the course of time he established a department store in Norton, and, up to his death on February 7,1948, had opened branch stores in various towns within a 50-mile radius of Norton. His wife died on February 9, 1945. Dahar and Elizabeth filed joint income tax returns for the years 1941 to 1944, inclusive; individual income tax returns were filed by Dahar or on his behalf for the years 1945 to 1947, inclusive, and for the period from January 1, 1948, to February 7, 1948. Dahar was survived by ten children. The department stores had been operated under the name of D. Cury’s as a sole proprietorship until July 31, 1946, when the business was incorporated and later known as D. Cury’s, Incorporated. Dahar became the owner of all of the stock at that time, 90 per cent of which he continued to own up to the time of his death. He sold the remaining 10 per cent to his son George Cury. Income tax returns were filed on behalf of the corporation for the fiscal years ended July 31,1947, and July 31,1948.

The will of Dahar named his sons George, Dahar, Jr., and Sol as executors, and provided for the operation of the estate for a period of 20 years, when it was then to be divided among his heirs, the ten children or their successors. A bitter controversy developed among the executors, with George and Dahar, Jr., uniting against Sol. The remaining seven children were sharply divided in their loyalties to these three brothers, with the result that there were two camps, of five children each, in what has been described as a family feud. Litigation between these two groups promptly ensued in 1948 over the estate of their father. The pleadings in that litigation disclose a high degree of antagonism between the two opposing factions. On October 14,1948, an agreement of settlement was reached between the parties. As a result of negotiations it was agreed that the group headed by Sol would make an offer, fixing the amount at which one faction would buy out the other, but that the other faction would have the option of determining whether it would buy or sell at that figure. The understanding was that the purchasing group would take over the entire estate subject to all liabilities. Sol’s group fixed the amount at $275,000, or $55,000 for each child. The other group promptly accepted the offer as an offer to sell to Sol’s group at that price, and a contract was executed on that day, October 14, 1948. Thereafter, on November 17,1948, the three executors having meanwhile resigned, the State court ruled that the provisions in Dahar’s will for operating the estate for 20 years were ineffective. It decreed that the entire estate should vest immediately, equally and jointly, in the ten children, and that each of them owned absolutely a one-tenth undivided interest in the estate. In the same decree, the court approved the contract of October 14, 1948, whereby Sol’s group had agreed to purchase the interests of the children in George’s group for $55,000 each, the purchasers undertaking to pay Federal and local taxes. After entry of the decree, the children in George’s group conveyed their interests in the estate to Sol’s group, pursuant to the contract of October 14,1948, as approved by the court.

The business and other properties of the decedent were operated as a unit on behalf of the five purchasing heirs until March 1949, when, by contract, three of them took certain assets, leaving the remainder of property, subject to debts, in the hands of the two remaining children, Sol Cury and Ann Cury Romanus. In June 1949, D. Cury’s, Incorporated, was dissolved, and its assets were distributed to Sol and Ann, the sole stockholders at that time, in accordance with an agreement between them.

The cases before us resolve themselves into the following major controversies: (1) Deficiencies in income tax, including additions for fraud, asserted against the estates of Dahar and Elizabeth Cury with respect to the years 1941 to 1944, inclusive. (2) Deficiencies in income tax, including additions for fraud, against the estate of Dahar Cury with respect to the years 1945 to 1947, inclusive, and the period from January 1, 1948, to February 7, 1948. (3) Transferee proceedings against the ten children with respect to Elizabeth’s liability for deficiencies in income tax for the years 1941 to 1944, inclusive, to the extent of distributions received by them from the estate of Elizabeth. (4) Transferee proceedings against the ten children with respect to Dahar’s liability for deficiencies in income tax for the years 1941 to 1947, inclusive, and the period from January 1, 1948, to February 7, 1948, to the extent of alleged distributions from his estate. (5) Deficiency in estate tax liability with respect to the estate of Dahar Cury. (6) Deficiencies in income tax, including additions for fraud, asserted against D. Cury’s, Incorporated, for the fiscal years ended July 31, 1947, and July 31,1948. (7) Transferee proceedings against Sol and Ann with respect to the income tax liability of D. Cury’s, Incorporated, for the fiscal years ended July 31,1947, and July 31,1948. (8) Deficiencies in income tax for 1948 asserted against the five selling heirs (the George L. Cury group) in which the principal issue is the basis to be allocated to the portion of Dahar’s estate sold by each of them for $55,000. (An additional issue is present in George’s case involving the basis of his 10 per cent interest in D. Cury’s, Incorporated, which was also sold as part of the over-all settlement of the 1948 litigation.)

(1) and (2). Deficiencies in income tax, including additions for fraud, asserted against the estates of Dahar and Elizabeth Oury with respect to the years 1941 to 1944-, inclusive, and against the estate of Dahar Oury with respect to the years 1945 to 194-7, inclusive, and the period from January 1,1948, to February 7, 1948.

The asserted deficiencies referred to above were determined by computing fhe increase in net worth of Dahar Cury and Elizabeth Cury for each of the years 1941-1944, and the increase in net worth of Dahar Cury for each of the years 1945-1947 and the period from January 1, 1948, to February 7, 1948, adding thereto expenditures or losses which are nondeductible for tax purposes, thus arriving at amounts purporting to be net income for each of the taxable years.4 The petitioners contest the propriety of resorting to that method in the circumstances present here. Their argument is that section 41 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939 precludes the Commissioner from the use of the net worth method where the taxpayer has books and records utilizing a method of accounting and that method clearly reflects his income. Such conditions exist, contend the petitioners, in the instant case. We do not agree that the use of the net worth method is foreclosed here by section 41.

While it is true that certain books and records were kept, inventory records, which are of crucial importance in determining income in a department store business, were unavailable. Despite requests made by the special agent who conducted the investigation, no such records were turned over to him, and the only detailed inventory maintained by the business which was presented to the Court was an incomplete inventory as of January 1,1941. There was some testimony concerning the keeping of inventory records but we are left in the dark as to how complete or accurate such records may have been, and we were given no convincing explanation for their unavailability.

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

Related

Hawk v. Comm'r
2017 T.C. Memo. 217 (U.S. Tax Court, 2017)
Kofmehl v. Commissioner
1978 T.C. Memo. 439 (U.S. Tax Court, 1978)
Bushnell v. Commissioner
49 T.C. 296 (U.S. Tax Court, 1967)
Blatchford v. Commissioner
1963 T.C. Memo. 83 (U.S. Tax Court, 1963)
Yagoda v. Commissioner
39 T.C. 170 (U.S. Tax Court, 1962)
Abraham v. Commissioner
1962 T.C. Memo. 160 (U.S. Tax Court, 1962)
Bishop v. Commissioner
1962 T.C. Memo. 146 (U.S. Tax Court, 1962)
Banks v. Commissioner
1961 T.C. Memo. 237 (U.S. Tax Court, 1961)
Brown v. Commissioner
1961 T.C. Memo. 36 (U.S. Tax Court, 1961)
Newell v. Commissioner
1960 T.C. Memo. 249 (U.S. Tax Court, 1960)
Estate of Rider v. Commissioner
1960 T.C. Memo. 124 (U.S. Tax Court, 1960)
Zouganiles v. Commissioner
1960 T.C. Memo. 5 (U.S. Tax Court, 1960)
Kane v. Commissioner
1959 T.C. Memo. 111 (U.S. Tax Court, 1959)
Bennett v. Commissioner
30 T.C. 114 (U.S. Tax Court, 1958)
Pate v. Commissioner
1957 T.C. Memo. 59 (U.S. Tax Court, 1957)
Feingold v. Commissioner
1956 T.C. Memo. 214 (U.S. Tax Court, 1956)
Davis v. Commissioner
1956 T.C. Memo. 206 (U.S. Tax Court, 1956)
Lopez v. Commissioner
1956 T.C. Memo. 203 (U.S. Tax Court, 1956)
Minor v. Commissioner
1956 T.C. Memo. 175 (U.S. Tax Court, 1956)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
23 T.C. 305, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-cury-v-commissioner-tax-1954.