Field v. Commissioner

32 T.C. 187, 1959 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 186
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedApril 24, 1959
DocketDocket Nos. 59565, 59566, 59567, 59568, 59569, 59570, 61244
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 32 T.C. 187 (Field 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
Field v. Commissioner, 32 T.C. 187, 1959 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 186 (tax 1959).

Opinion

OPINION.

HaRRON, Judge:

The issue to be decided is whether the statutory notices of transferee liability for tax deficiencies of Adwood Corporation were timely so that assessments of transferee liability are not barred by the statute of limitations. Petitioners concede that they are the transferees of the corporation and that they would be liable for the assessments if they are not barred by the statute of limitations. The Value of the property of Adwood received by each petitioner and the amount of each transferee’s liability has been stipulated.

Section 311 (b) of the 1939 Code4 provides that the period of limitation for assessment of transferee liability and liability of a transferee of a transferee is within 1 year after the expiration of the period of limitation for assessment against the transferor or the preceding transferee, respectively. All the petitioners are initial transferees of property of Adwood Corporation, the transferor, except Ethel Daniels, who is a transferee of Max Daniels, transferee of property of Ad-wood. The period of limitation for assessment against a transferor under section 275 5 is 3 years after the return was filed, except where the Commissioner and the transferor have consented in writing, prior to the expiration of the period prescribed by section 275, to assessment after such time. In the event such consent is executed, section 276 (b)6 provides that the tax may be assessed at any time prior to the expiration of the period agreed upon, and the period so agreed upon may be extended by subsequent agreements in writing made before the expiration of the period previously agreed upon.

After the transferor, Adwood, filed its returns for the taxable years here involved, 1945-1950, inclusive, they were audited by respondent’s agents. On December 1,1950, and March 2, 1951, 30-day letters were sent to Adwood, together with the agents’ reports proposing the deficiencies and additional tax liabilities here involved. On December 13,1950, and March 15,1951, an authorized officer of Adwood Corporation filed protests taking exception to certain depreciation adjustments. The protests stated that the matter of a proper depreciation basis was already before the court for earlier years (1942-1944, inclusive) and that if the Adwood Corporation failed in that proceeding then adjustments for 1945 to 1950, inclusive, were proper. The protests contained a request that the matter be held in abeyance until the proceeding for the earlier years was settled and indicated that the Adwood Corporation would execute waivers to extend the period for assessment of the liabilities involved.

A series of waivers were executed by authorized officers of Adwood for each of the years here involved and each was executed before the expiration of the prior extended period. For the taxable year ended May 31,1945, six waivers were executed, the first on January 7,1948, and the last on November 5, 1952. For the taxable year ended May 31, 1946, five waivers were executed, the first on March 14, 1949, and the last on November 5, 1952. For the taxable year ended May 31, 1947, four waivers were executed, the first on May 23, 1950, and the last on November 5, 1952. For the taxable year ended May 31, 1948, three waivers were executed, the first on February 14, 1951, and the last on November 5, 1952. For the taxable year ended May 31, 1949, two waivers were executed, on December 10, 1951, and on November 5, 1952. For the taxable year ended May 31, 1950, one waiver was executed on November 5, 1952. The last waiver executed for each of the years 1945-1950, inclusive, contained consent to extension of the period for assessment to June 30, 1954.

On April 27, 1951, the Adwood Corporation filed a certificate of dissolution with the Michigan Corporation and Securities Commission. On October 23,1953, the Adwood Corporation executed Forms 870, Waivers of Eestrictions on Assessments and Collection of Deficiency in Tax and Acceptance of Overassessment, for the taxable years involved and in the amounts here assessed. The district director of internal revenue at Detroit gave notice to the Adwood Corporation of the assessments of the assessed tax liabilities and he demanded payment thereof from Adwood on December 11, 1958, and on January 20,1954. An offer in compromise on Treasury Form 656 on behalf of Adwood Corporation was filed with the district director on January 13, 1954, and an amended offer in compromise was filed August 19, 1954. On March 30,1955, notices of Federal tax liens covering assessed tax liability of the transferor, Adwood Corporation, were filed with the register of deeds for Wayne County, Michigan, and with the clerk of the United States District Court in Detroit. On June 23, 1955, statutory notices of transferee liability for deficiencies of the trans-feror were mailed to all the petitioners, as transferees, except Ethel Daniels to whom a statutory notice of transferee liability for deficiencies, as a transferee of a transferee, was mailed on December 5, 1955.

The petitioners contend first that a transferor may not, by executing a consent, extend the period of limitation during which taxes may be assessed and collected from transferees; that the Code does not authorize the Commissioner to procure the consent of one taxpayer for the purpose of extending the period of limitation as to other taxpayers; and that the consents executed by Adwood had no effect as far as the transferees, the petitioners, are concerned. If the petitioners’ theory is correct, since the parties have stipulated that Adwood Corporation’s returns were timely filed, the period of limitation against the petitioners, as transferees, would have expired no later than 4 years after the last return of Adwood was due. For the fiscal year ended May 31,1950, the petitioners contend that the period of limitation relating to the transferees would have expired at least by February 15, 1955.7

Under similar facts, this Court has rejected the same contentions. See W. O. Menger, 17 B.T.A. 998; Rite-Way Products, Inc., 12 T.C. 475, 479; Helen Epstein, 17 T.C. 1034; Anne Gatto, 20 T.C. 830; and James M. Denton, 21 T.C. 295. See also Lucas v. Hunt, 45 F. 2d 781; United States v. City of New York, 134 F. Supp. 374; and Estate of Umberto Dardi v. United States, 252 F. 2d 670. The rule is that the period of limitation for assessment of liability of an initial transferee and of a transferee of a transferee is within 1 year after the expiration of the original period of limitation for assessment against the transferor and transferee, respectively, as properly extended by consents of the transferor. Petitioners have stipulated that all the successive consents referred to above, including the ones executed November 5, 1952, extending the period to June 30, 1954, were executed and delivered by authorized agents of and with the authority of the board of directors of Adwood Corporation. The rule, which is well established, is contrary to petitioners’ contention.

The petitioners contend, further, that if the waivers executed by Adwood were valid so that they extended the period of limitation, the extension was terminated when the assessments were made against Adwood Corporation pursuant to the waivers of restrictions on assessments and collections which were executed on October 23, 1953. Assessments were made as of December 11, 1953, and January 20, 1954.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
32 T.C. 187, 1959 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/field-v-commissioner-tax-1959.