Federal Dev. Co. v. Commissioner

18 B.T.A. 971, 1930 BTA LEXIS 2554
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedJanuary 31, 1930
DocketDocket No. 14283.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 18 B.T.A. 971 (Federal Dev. Co. 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
Federal Dev. Co. v. Commissioner, 18 B.T.A. 971, 1930 BTA LEXIS 2554 (bta 1930).

Opinion

[977]*977OPINION.

TRttssell :

The first assignment of error involves a question of law, the correctness of respondent’s action' in including in petitioner’s income for 1919 the sum of $143,967.25, this being the difference between the cost and the sale price less expenses of sale, of certain real estate sold by petitioner in that year to the Boston Federal Reserve Bank. Petitioner contends that $50,000 of this amount does not represent income for 1919 as it was retained by the purchaser as a guarantee of the seller’s obligation to secure the surrender on a certain date of a portion of the premises by a tenant. The facts are not in dispute. The sale was effected in 1919 as a result of a contract by the terms of which petitioner bound itself to deliver title and to secure the vacating of the premises by a certain tenant or to secure harmless the purchaser in case the premises were not vacated as provided. Upon closing the transaction on August 29, 1919, an agreement by the tenant to vacate had not been secured by petitioner but title was accepted by the purchaser and another contract executed which provided, in so far as pertinent to the question at issue, that in place of the unlimited guarantee of the former contract petitioner had deposited with the purchaser $50,000 as a guarantee that the tenant would vacate the premises by March 1 of the following year, petitioner’s liability being limited to this amount, and the damage in case the tenant failed to vacate the premises was liquidated by the agreement at $500 per day. By this agreement the purchaser agreed to pay petitioner interest ojl the deposit and the fact was [978]*978witnessed that title had passed and the full amount of the consideration paid the petitioner. The closing of the transaction and making of the payment by the purchaser and the guarantee deposit by petitioner was effected by the purchaser making payment of the purchase price less the amount of the deposit. From that time forward title to the property was in the purchaser and it received the rentals paid by tenants. The premises were vacated by the tenant in question shortly after March 1,1920, and the purchaser thereupon returned the deposit less the per diem damage agreed upon and plus interest, the net amount paid over being $49,081.44. Petitioner included in income for 1919 on account of this transaction $93,967.25 for 1919, and $49,081.44 for 1920.

Petitioner contends that the $50,000 representing the deposit was not received by it in 1919, and the fact that it would receive any portion of it was not possible to determine in that year; that there was no basis then for its accrual, and consequently it represented income for 1920 when received and then only in the net amount actually paid over.

The fact that in concluding the transaction the Federal Reserve Bank, instead of paying over the entire amount of the purchase price and then receiving back .a deposit of $50,000 from petitioner, retained that sum from the total makes no difference. The result is the same in any event. The retaining of this amount was a-use of it as funds of the petitioner in carrying out the latter’s obligation to make a deposit. The sum was held from that time forward as money belonging to petitioner, interest being paid the latter for the time it was held. The fact that one who sells property guarantees the purchaser against some contingency arising in a future year and makes a deposit as security for the guarantee does not lessen by the amount of the guarantee or the amount of the deposit the profit which he had made on the sale. If in such case the happening guaranteed against takes place in the following year and a portion of the deposit is in consequence lost, the result is one affecting income for that year to the extent of the loss. The action of respondent is approved.

The second assignment of error is upon respondent’s disallowance as' an expense of 1919 of the sum of $20,000 representing payments of $10,000 each made by petitioner on May 11, 1920, to its president and vice president as extra compensation for services rendered in 1919. The record shows that these two officers of petitioner represented it in 1919 in negotiating and concluding certain transactions which resulted profitably to petitioner. Both individuals were on fixed salaries and petitioner was entitled to their services. There is nothing shown which indicates that any legal obligation arose in [979]*9791919 on the part of petitioner to make payment of additional compensation to them over and above the salaries voted. Neither the minutes nor the books of account of petitioner for 1919 record anything which suggests an understanding that additional compensation was legally due or liability therefor admitted in that year. The only minute entry in 1919 in respect to the transaction is a resolution approving action taken for petitioner and authorizing further action for it. No item representing added compensation was accrued on the books prior to the actual voting of such compensation on May 11,1920. Under the record, as submitted, we can not see that a basis existed for accrual in 1919, of any additional amount on account of these services and no such accrual was made. Van de Kamps Holland Dutch Bakers, 2 B. T. A. 1247; Model Dairy, Inc., 13 B. T. A. 545; affd., 36 Fed. (2d) 768. Petitioner’s counsel insists in his reply brief that the service rendered was over and beyond those called for from these officers and represented by the regular salaries paid them, and that he can show that fact if permitted to introduce further proof, but even if such condition, if proven, would alter the conclusion reached, we must decide the question on the record as made up on (lie regular hearing. Counsel can not be permitted to prove his case m piecemeal and supply deficiencies in proof after final submission. The action of respondent is approved.

The third assignment of error is upon the action of respondent in taxing at the 1918 rate under section 801 (c) of the Revenue Act of 1918, $111,150.19 of the income of the affiliated corporations for 1919 and representing payments made to the Kelley-Spear Co. in that year by the United States for work done under its war contracts. The record shows that the income in question was from work done under contracts with the United States executed between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918. We see no difference in the fact that the contracts were executed by a predecessor corporation. They were assigned to and responsibility thereunder accepted by this taxpayer. The work under them was done for the United States which made therefor the payments to this taxpayer which represent the income in question. It is not claimed, and the evidence does not indicate, that respondent in determining the net amount subject to tax at 1918 rates, has failed to reduce the gross income of this character by the expense incident to its production, other than in his refusal to allow any amount as a deduction representing the cost of the contracts of construction. The amount of this income should be reduced by the sum of $33,333.34, hereinafter, found by us under the sixth assignment of error, as a cost applicable to the contracts, for performance of which the payment in question was made in 1919. Hoe & Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, [980]*98030 Fed. (2d) 630. Aside from this adjustment, we sustain the action of respondent in applying the 1918 tax rate to this item of income. Tampa Shipbuilding Co., 1 B. T. A. 485; A. B. Kirschbaum Co., 5 B. T. A. 65.

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Federal Dev. Co. v. Commissioner
18 B.T.A. 971 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1930)

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Bluebook (online)
18 B.T.A. 971, 1930 BTA LEXIS 2554, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-dev-co-v-commissioner-bta-1930.