Estate of Hyde v. Commissioner

42 B.T.A. 738
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedSeptember 25, 1940
DocketDocket No. 95182
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 42 B.T.A. 738 (Estate of Hyde v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Board of Tax Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Hyde v. Commissioner, 42 B.T.A. 738 (bta 1940).

Opinion

[744]*744OPINION.

Hill:

The first issue for decision in this case is whether or not the sum of $3,000, which was paid to petitioner’s decedent on January 8, 1936, as interest on the alimony note for $100,000 referred to hereinabove, constituted taxable income. The deficiency determined by respondent results from his addition of the amount of $3,000 to the net income disclosed by petitioner’s return.

Petitioner contends in substance that the amount represented alimony or a payment in lieu of alimony, and hence did not constitute taxable income to decedent, citing in support of its position Longyear v. Helvering, 77 Fed. (2d) 116, which affirmed 28 B. T. A. 1086.

It is now settled beyond controversy that an amount received by a divorced woman as alimony or in lieu of alimony is not taxable income. Gould v. Gould, 245 U. S. 151; Mary R. Spencer, 20 B. T. A. 58; Maud H. Bush, 33 B. T. A. 628; Princess Lida of Thurn and Taxis, 37 B. T. A. 41. This doctrine is not questioned here by either party; the issue relates solely to the true character of the payment involved.

In the Longyear case, supra, a settlement agreement made in lieu of alimony provided for the payment to the divorced wife of $12,500 out of a special fund; a further sum equal to interest at the rate of 6 percent per annum upon $150,000 from a stated date to the date of the agreement, and a note for $150,000 bearing interest at 6 percent per annum. We held that the interest payments were a part of the agreement made in lieu of an alimony award, and were not deductible by the husband as interest on an indebtedness. In affirming our decision, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said:

A claim made by petitioner for a deduction of such part of the payments made to Mrs. Longyear as interest paid upon the note held by her can not be sustained. The note represented alimony secured to her by agreement between herself and her former husband. The obligation did not lose the character of alimony when incorporated in the note. Gilman v. Commissioner, (CAA) 53 F. (2d) 47, 50 * * *

Respondent insists that the $3,000 payment in controversy here was merely compensation for the use of money, that is to say, interest paid by Archibald to his divorced wife for use of the $100,000 alimony which he was obligated by their agreement to pay to her on or before December 31,1931, but which he did not pay when due, and in lieu of which he delivered to her the nonnegotiable promissory note for $100,000, bearing interest at 5 percent per annum, set out in our findings of fact above.

Respondent points to the fact that the settlement agreement between Archibald and his wife contained no provision for the payment of any interest and that the payment of interest was made [745]*745pursuant to a subsequent agreement embodied in the note, and on this ground he attempts to distinguish the present proceeding from Longyear v. Helvering, supra.

Respondent’s position, we think, is untenable. The distinction urged is unimportant here. The parties have stipulated, and we have found the fact to be, that Archibald’s note was delivered to decedent in lieu of the alimony payment. The interest provided for to the extent paid was, therefore, a payment in lieu of alimony, and, aside from the affirmative stipulation of the parties, this appears to be true.

By the original settlement agreement Archibald was obligated to pay his divorced wife $100,000 alimony not later than December 31, 1931. If he had made such payment on that date, he would have complied with his agreement, but the payment of that amount one year later, as provided in the note, would not have been the equivalent in value of $100,000 paid on the original due date, if paid without interest. Obviously, the present worth at December 31, 1931, of a promise to pay $100,000 one year after that date was less than $100,000. The diminution in value was exactly equivalent to the fair value of the use of that sum of money for the period payment was deferred. Archibald agreed to pay interest at 5 percent per annum, which may be assumed to have been a fair rate. It follows that the interest and principal of the note, if and when subsequently paid, could not in any event have exceeded in total value the amount of the alimony provided for in the settlement agreement. The interest paid on January 8, 1936, in the amount of $3,000 was less than the amount of interest due at the stipulated rate. Such amount was a payment in lieu of alimony, and did not constitute taxable income to petitioner’s decedent. Respondent’s action on this issue is reversed.

The second issue arises from petitioner’s allegation that respondent erred in failing to determine that the amount of $30,000 which decedent received in 1936 from the Chicago Fannie May Candy Co. and the Archibald Candy Corporation constituted alimony payments and not taxable income. The amount was included in gross income' reported in decedent’s tax return for 1936, and by reason thereof petitioner contends that its tax for that year has been overpaid in the amount of $3,494.71.

In the alternative, petitioner contends that under section 22 (b) (2) of the Revenue Act of 1936 the annuity of $30,000 received by decedent in 1936 was not taxable in its entirety, but only to the extent of 3 percent of the excess over cost. Petitioner also argues that the transaction amounted in effect to an exchange in 1930 by decedent of her interest in the stock of the two candy companies for an annuity, and, if any profit was realized from such exchange, it was [746]*746taxable in the year 1930. Petitioner further contends in the alternative that the annuity received in 1936 should be treated as proceeds of a capital gain and under section 117 (a) of the applicable statute only 60 percent thereof may be included in gross income.

On brief petitioner argues that the payments made under the contract of June 5, 1930, were in part consideration for the release by decedent of claims against the candy companies, and in part consideration for her agreement not to compete. We are urged to adopt this construction on the ground that any other interpretation of the contract would render it void as contrary to public policy, and that if possible it should receive such interpretation as would render it valid. For purposes of the present proceeding, we need not attempt to decide whether or not the contract was valid. Income derived from an executed contract, even if void and unenforceable, is nevertheless subject to tax. Christian H. Droge, 35 B. T. A. 829. See also United States v. Sullivan, 274 U. S. 259.

The evidence we think wholly fails to sustain petitioner’s principal contention that the $30,000 received by decedent in 1936 did not represent payments made solely in consideration of her agreement not to enter into competition with Archibald’s candy corporations.

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Hyde v. Commissioner
42 B.T.A. 738 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1940)

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Bluebook (online)
42 B.T.A. 738, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-hyde-v-commissioner-bta-1940.