Faitoute v. Commissioner

38 B.T.A. 32, 1938 BTA LEXIS 923
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedJuly 12, 1938
DocketDocket No. 82387.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 38 B.T.A. 32 (Faitoute 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
Faitoute v. Commissioner, 38 B.T.A. 32, 1938 BTA LEXIS 923 (bta 1938).

Opinion

OPINION.

Smith:

This is a proceeding for the redetermination of a deficiency in income tax for 1932 in the amount of $60,083.53. The petition alleges that the respondent erred in the determination of the deficiency (1) in treating as taxable dividends $94,000 which represented money borrowed by the petitioner from the Faitoute Iron & Steel Co., of which the petitioner was the sole stockholder; (2) in disallowing the deduction from gross income of $42,537.50 sustained on the sale of $100,000 par value of City of Asbury Park, New Jersey, bonds; and (3) in disallowing the deduction of a capital net loss of $18,512.50 sustained on the sale of 100 shares of stock of National Newark & Essex Banking Co. The respondent has conceded the third point in issue.

The petitioner is a resident of Short Hills, New Jersey. He filed his income tax return for 1932 with the collector of internal revenue at Newark, New Jersey. The return shows a net income of $40,-637.13. In the determination of the deficiency the respondent added [33]*33to the net income reported dividends in the amount of $94,000, a loss of $42,537.50 on the sale of $100,000 City of Asbury Park bonds, and a capital net loss of $18,512.50 on the sale of National Newark & Essex Banking Co. stock.

The petitioner owns all of the capital stock of the Faitoute Iron & Steel Co., a New Jersey corporation, which is a distributor of iron and steel products. The number of shares outstanding in 1932 was 301. This corporation was profitable and had accumulated a large surplus prior to 1930. Its undivided profits at the end of 1931 were $974,524.33, and at the end of 1932, $945,895. The earnings and dividends paid upon the stock from 1929 to 1934, inclusive, were as follows:

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In 1918 the corporation loaned to the petitioner $95,866.69. This loan was in an open account entitled “Exchange Account.” In this account loans by the corporation to officers and employees were debited when made and credited when paid back. A debit balance in the account has always been carried as accounts receivable on the corporation’s books of account and in its balance sheets. The petitioner never paid any interest upon the money which he borrowed from the corporation in 1918. He paid the money back to the corporation on April 9, 1936.

The corporation also made loans to the petitioner during the year 1932 as follows:

March 29, 1932_$60, 000

April 5, 1932_ 10,000

April 6, 1932_ 29,000

Total_ 99, 000

These loans were charged to the petitioner in the “Exchange Account.” The petitioner paid back $5,000 of the $99,000 on June 13, 1932. The balance of $94,000 was paid back to the corporation as follows:

October 31, 1934_$30, 000

December 5, 1934_ 20,000

12, 1934_ 15, 000

20, 1934_ 20, 000

28, 1934_ 9, 000

Upon the petitioner’s books of account the amounts borrowed from the corporation have always been carried as liabilities.

[34]*34Inasmuch as the petitioner paid no interest upon his borrowings from the corporation the respondent, in the determination of the deficiency, has treated not the $99,000 but the $94,000, the net amount borrowed in 1932 and not paid back at the close of the year, as a dividend received by the petitioner.

In January 1931 the petitioner purchased $50,000 Asbury Park 5¾ percent bonds due April 1,1934, at a cost of $51,687.50. On June I,1931, he purchased $25,000 par value 6 percent Asbury Park bonds due December 1, 1933, and $25,000 par value 6 percent bonds due December 1, 1934, at a cost of $51,000, a total of $102,687.50. On December 27,1932, he sold these bonds to J. S. Eippel & Co., Newark, New Jersey, at market price, receiving therefor $60,150, plus $936.12 of accrued interest. The memorandum of the purchase received by the petitioner from J. S. Eippel & Co. reads as follows:

J. S. Rrppiix & Oo.
18 Clinton Street
Newark: Market 3-3430
New York: Rector 2-2295
Newabk, N. J.
December ¾75 1082
as of Dec. 29
Bought of Mr. Moses W. Faitoute, 182 Freliugbuysen Avenue, Newark, N. J.
Quantity Security Total
$25,000.00 Asbury Park, N. J. temp, loan 6% December 1, 1983 at 72.90 and interest-$18,225.00
Interest 28 days- 116. 67
- $18,341. 67
$50,000.00 Asbury Park, N. J. temp, loan 5¾⅝
April 1, 1934 at 55.90 and interest-$27,950. 00
Interest 2 months 28 days- 702. 78
-$28, 652. 78
$25, 000. 00 Asbury Park, N. J. temp, loan 6% December 1, 1984 at 55.90 and interest... $13, 975. 00
Interest 28 clays- 116. 67
- 14,091.67
$61,086.12

At or about the same time the same or a like amount of bonds were purchased from J. S. Eippel & Co. by the Faitoute Iron & Steel Co. The amount paid therefor is not shown by the record. The petitioner neither at the time of the sale of the bonds nor later entered into any agreement with the corporation for the repurchase of the bonds and he has never repurchased the bonds from the corporation.

The first question for consideration is whether the petitioner is liable to income tax upon the $94,000 representing his net borrowings from the Faitoute Iron & Steel Co. in 1932. The respondent has not [35]*35treated the $99,000 borrowed in 1932 as a dividend, but has held that $94,000, which represents the borrowings for the year 1932 not paid back by the end of the year, is taxable to the petitioner as a dividend received from the corporation.

Section 115 (a) of the Revenue Act of 1932 provides that:

* * * £erm “dividend” when used in this title * ⅜ * means any distribution made by a corporation to its shareholders, whether in money or in other property, out of its earnings or profits accumulated after February 28,1918.

The argument of the respondent appears to be that since the petitioner was the sole stockholder of the corporation it could not make a loan to him. We are of the opinion, however, that this is not so. If the money advanced was in good faith loaned by the corporation to the petitioner then it was not a dividend.

All of the evidence goes to show that the money advanced by the corporation to the petitioner in 1932 was a loan and not a distribution of profits. The petitioner testified that he had agreed in the early part of 1932 to lend to New Jersey mimicipalities large amounts of money. He had expected that certain bonds owned by him which matured in 1932 would be paid off at maturity and that he would have the funds in hand to make the loans which he had agreed to make. The municipalities were not, however, able to collect a sufficient amount of taxes to redeem the bonds which matured in the early part of 1932.

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Faitoute v. Commissioner
38 B.T.A. 32 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1938)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
38 B.T.A. 32, 1938 BTA LEXIS 923, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/faitoute-v-commissioner-bta-1938.