Federal Bulk Carriers, Inc. v. Commissioner

66 T.C. 283, 1976 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 108
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMay 18, 1976
DocketDocket No. 6115-73
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 66 T.C. 283 (Federal Bulk Carriers, 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
Federal Bulk Carriers, Inc. v. Commissioner, 66 T.C. 283, 1976 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 108 (tax 1976).

Opinion

OPINION

Raum, Judge:

The Commissioner determined deficiencies in petitioner’s Federal corporate income tax as follows:

Year Deficiency Year Deficiency
1962_$992.41 1966 _ $31,030.19
1964_1,041.56 1967 _ 15,016.00
1965_3,293.66 1968 _ 53,288.65

The only matter in controversy is whether certain losses petitioner incurred in 1965 and 1966 were capital losses. If they were, then the deductions in respect thereof were subject to the limitation set forth in section 1211,1.R.C. 1954, and moreover, petitioner did not sustain a net operating loss in the year 1965 which could be carried back to the years 1962 through 1964 and carried forward to the years 1966 through 1968. See secs. 165(f), 172(c), and 1212. Furthermore, if petitioner is not entitled to a net operating loss deduction in 1966, it does not challenge the Commissioner’s determination that, as a personal holding company, it is liable for the special tax on its undistributed personal holding company income as computed by the Commissioner. All of the facts have been stipulated.

Petitioner Federal Bulk Carriers, Inc., was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York on November 25,1955. At the time the petition was filed, its principal office was located in New York, N.Y. Petitioner-filed Federal corporate income tax returns for each of the calendar years 1962 through 1968 with the District Director of Internal Revenue, New York, N.Y.

In 1957 petitioner acquired 60 percent of the outstanding stock of Federal Tankers Ltd. (Tankers), a Canadian corporation, for $18,837. By September 24, 1959, petitioner also acquired 60 percent of Tankers’ subordinated notes for $1,299,070. The remaining 40-percent interest in the notes and stock of Tankers was acquired by Bessemer Securities Corp. (Bessemer), a domestic corporation.

Tankers was organized to build and charter a 41,246 deadweight ton tanker, eventually named the Monarch. Tankers, in turn, organized Federal Petroleum Carriers Ltd. (Carriers), a Canadian corporation, as its wholly owned subsidiary to contract for the building of the Monarch. The Monarch was built by Davie Shipbuilding Ltd. at its shipyard in Lauzon, PQ, Canada. Construction of the Monarch qualified under the Canadian Vessel Construction Assistance Act, and pursuant thereto, the owner of the ship was entitled to certain excess depreciation deductions for Canadian income tax purposes. The Monarch was launched on June 19, 1959, and delivered by the builder on September 24,1959.

The Monarch was not to be used by either Carriers, Tankers, or petitioner for their own account. Instead, nearly a year prior to the ship’s launching it was chartered to Imperial Oil Ltd. (Imperial), a Canadian corporation, by means of a somewhat complex chartering arrangement.

On July 15, 1958, the Monarch was bareboat-chartered by Carriers to Imperial for a term running until September 24, 1974. Imperial simultaneously bareboat-chartered the Monarch to Tankers for the same period. At the same time Tankers time-chartered the Monarch to Imperial until September 24,1974.

The terms of the two bareboat charters were similar. Each set the charter hire at $1.10 per deadweight ton per month. The charterer obtained the right to “employ the vessel throughout the world in any lawful trade for which she is suitable * * * [except] in clean petroleum trade.” The charterer agreed however, to “at its own expense, man, victual, navigate, operate, supply, and fuel the vessel and repair her as required * * * and pay all other charges and expenses of every kind and nature whatsoever incident to the possession, use, management, employment and operation of the vessel.” The charterer was also required to maintain, periodically drydock, and insure the vessel.

The time charter between Tankers and Imperial provided for a charter hire of $2.70 per deadweight ton per month. However, this charter provided that the “Owner,” Tankers, “lets” the vessel equipped in a certain manner and “with full complement of Master, Officers and Crew * * * and due diligence to be exercised to maintain her in such state.” Moreover, the “Owner” rather than the charterer “shall provide and pay for all provisions, deck and engine room stores, galley and cabin stores, and insurance on the Vessel; wages of the Master, Officers and Crew; consular fees pertaining to the Master, Officers and Crew; and also $100.00 per month for galley and crew fuel.” The time charter further provided:

8. In the event of loss of time from deficiency of men or stores, breakdown of machinery, interference by Authorities, collision, stranding, fire or other accident or damage to the Vessel, not caused by the fault of the Charterer, preventing the working of the Vessel for more than twenty-four consecutive hours, or in the event of loss of time from breach of orders or neglect of duty by the Master, Officers or Crew, or from deviation for the purpose of landing any injured or ill person on board other than any who may be carried at Charterer’s request, or from strike or lockout or stoppage or restraint of labor from whatever cause, either partial or general, of the Master, Officers or Crew, or from interference with the use of the Vessel hereunder as mentioned in the third paragraph of Clause 55 hereof [relating to foreclosure or other proceedings in connection with the mortgage on the Monarch], payment of hire shall cease for all time lost until the Vessel is again in an efficient state to resume her service and has regained a point of progress equivalent to that when the hire ceased hereunder * * * but should the Vessel be delayed or driven into port or to anchorage by stress of weather or on account of accident to or other consideration for her cargo, such delay, departure, or loss of time shall be for Charterer’s account. * * *

The time charter also specified that Imperial need not pay a portion of the hire due each month to the extent of $1.10 per deadweight ton if that amount was owed by Tankers to it under the second bareboat charter and paid by Imperial to Carriers under the first bareboat charter. Thus, liability for $1.10 of the total charter hire was governed by the bareboat charters whereas payment of the balance was subject to the different provisions of the time charter. As indicated hereinafter, payments under the charters were assigned as security for a large indebtedness that was incurred in order to pay for the Monarch, and the involved multistep chartering arrangement may have been required, in part, to obtain such financing.

The final cost of the ship was Can. $11,236,083. Of this amount $8 million (U.S.) was loaned to Carriers by institutional lenders. This loan (the Ship Mortgage Loan) was effectuated by the issuance of notes and bonds by Carriers pursuant to an indenture of trust dated September 1, 1959, and various other agreements. The notes and bonds were secured by a mortgage on the Monarch. The amounts payable by Imperial to Tankers and Carriers under the aforementioned bareboat and time charters were assigned to the trustee. In addition, Carriers and Tankers were each required to maintain working capital in the amount, of Can. $150,000, and petitioner and Bessemer guaranteed all of Carriers’ obligations under the indenture of trust and related agreements.

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Federal Bulk Carriers, Inc. v. Commissioner
66 T.C. 283 (U.S. Tax Court, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
66 T.C. 283, 1976 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-bulk-carriers-inc-v-commissioner-tax-1976.