First Nat'l Bank v. Commissioner

38 B.T.A. 1244, 1938 BTA LEXIS 766
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedNovember 25, 1938
DocketDocket No. 89268.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 38 B.T.A. 1244 (First Nat'l Bank 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
First Nat'l Bank v. Commissioner, 38 B.T.A. 1244, 1938 BTA LEXIS 766 (bta 1938).

Opinion

OPINION.

Hill:

Respondent determined a deficiency in petitioner’s income tax liability for the year 1934 in the amount of $1,887.56, and a deficiency in excess profits tax liability for the same year in the amount of $681.46. These deficiencies result from three adjustments made by respondent to the net income reported on petitioner’s return, only two of which are called in question here. Petitioner assigns as error the action of respondent in disallowing (1) a deduction of Federal deposit insurance premiums in the amount of $2,066.52, and (2) a deduction of accrued interest on savings deposits in the amount of $11,661.25.

Petitioner is a national bank corporation, with its principal office at Braddock, Pennsylvania. It was incorporated December 8, 1933, and commenced business on the same date. On December 22, 1933, petitioner remitted to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to be subsequently paid into the temporary deposit insurance fund, the sum of $2,066.52. The amount was recorded on petitioner’s books in a separate account and treated as an asset until December 22,1934. The Federal deposit insurance did not become operative until January 1,1934. Prior to that date, petitioner had no deposit insurance protection. Petitioner’s total payments to the fund established by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation were not finally determined and made until November 1934, and thereafter all of such pay[1245]*1245ments were charged to expense on December 22, 1934. Tlie amount of the remittance made on December 22, 1983, was claimed by petitioner as a deduction from its gross income for 1934, and was disallowed by respondent.

On January 2, 1935, petitioner credited to the savings accounts of depositors interest earned for the period July 1 to December 31, 1934, in the amount of $11,661.25. Such interest was at intervals in 1934 computed and recorded by petitioner in an account called “accrued interest” and charged against 1934 operations. It was not available for credit to or withdrawal by the depositors prior to January 2, 1935. The amount so credited to the depositors was claimed as a deduction from gross income for 1934. The deduction was disallowed by respondent.

During the taxable year 1934 petitioner kept its books of account on the basis of cash receipts and disbursements, and for such year made its Federal income and profits tax return on the same basis.

Kespondent contends that, since petitioner was on a cash basis and neither of the claimed deductions represents payment made in the taxable year 1934, both must be disallowed. Bespondent argues in his brief that petitioner made its return on a cash basis; and that, since the deficiencies were determined by respondent on a cash basis, pursuant to the discretion vested in him by section 41 of the Bevenue Act of 1934, and petitioner has not shown abuse of discretion, such determination is final. This argument in large part, we think, is not directed to the point in controversy. Petitioner readily concedes, and we so find as a fact, that it kept its books and made its tax return on the basis of cash receipts and disbursements. Petitioner contends, nevertheless, that it is entitled to the deductions claimed; that the allowance of such deductions is not inconsistent with the cash basis of reporting taxable income.

Bespondent disallowed the deduction ^of the deposit insurance premium in the amount of $2,066.52 because, he asserts, it was paid on December 22, 1933, prior to the beginning of the taxable year. There is no disagreement over the amount, or that it is an allowable deduction. In the deficiency letter respondent held that such amount was an allowable deduction for 1933.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was created by section 8 of the Banking Act of 1933, enacted June 16,1933, 48 Stat. 162,168, amending the Federal Beserve Act as amended, by inserting therein sections 12A and 12B. Subdivision (y) of section 12B provided that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation should open on its books a “Temporary Federal Deposit Insurance Fund” which should become operative on January 1, 1934. Each member of the fund was required, on or before the date of its admission, to file with the [1246]*1246corporation a certified statement of deposits and to pay into such fund a certain percentage of the deposits certified. Thus, it was necessary for petitioner to comply with the statutory provisions not later than January 1, 1934, if it was to become a member and have the benefits of the temporary insurance fund when it became operative. The making of such payment alone, however, did not constitute petitioner a member. There were other requirements, and, if its application for membership had been rejected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the advance payment would have been refunded. Petitioner set up the amount remitted in December 1933 in an asset account on its books and thereafter, when the payment became final in 1934, charged such amount to expense.

This procedure, we think, was proper. Disregarding the contingency whereby the amount originally remitted, or a part thereof, might have been returned to petitioner subsequent to January 1, 1934, it seems plain that prior to that date it could not be said that such amount had been “paid” by petitioner either into the temporary fund or to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The temporary fund, by specific statutory provision, did not go into operation until January 1, 1934. Prior thereto, the amount remitted by petitioner to the insurance corporation was still its property; the insurance corporation merely held the money for petitioner until paid into the temporary fund when it came into operation on January 1, 1934. Undoubtedly petitioner had the right to demand the return of its money at any time before that date if it had so desired; and before such date the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation had no property right in the money and could not have used it for any purpose. The money ceased to be petitioner’s property only when it was paid into the temporary insurance fund, the purpose for which it was specifically remitted by petitioner, on or after January 1, 1934. It follows, therefore, that “payment” of the amount was made by petitioner within the taxable year 1934, and is an allowable deduction from gross income for that year.

The second deduction claimed by petitioner and disallowed by respondent involves interest earned on the savings accounts of its depositors during the period July 1 to December 31, 1934, in the amount of $11,681.25. The amount was computed at intervals during 1934 and recorded on petitioner’s books during 1934 in an account designated “accrued interest.” The amounts due the respective depositors, however, were not entered in their accounts until January 2, 1935, or if the entries -were made prior thereto, they were made as of that date. Respondent makes no contention that the aggregate amount so credited is not an allowable deduction, but asserts that it [1247]*1247is deductible from 1935 income because petitioner was on the cash basis and credited the amount to its depositors in the latter year.

There is some conflict in the evidence respecting the actual date on which the entries were made crediting the interest in controversy on the accounts of the respective depositors. Both petitioner and respondent have requested that we find as a fact that the entries were made on January 2, 1935, or not until that date. Thomas M.

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Related

Hudson City Sav. Bank v. Commissioner
53 T.C. 70 (U.S. Tax Court, 1969)
Hamilton Nat. Bank v. District of Columbia
156 F.2d 843 (D.C. Circuit, 1946)
First Nat'l Bank v. Commissioner
38 B.T.A. 1244 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1938)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
38 B.T.A. 1244, 1938 BTA LEXIS 766, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-natl-bank-v-commissioner-bta-1938.