General Foods Corp. v. United States

530 F.2d 923, 208 Ct. Cl. 606, 37 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 706, 1976 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 241
United States Court of Claims·Decided January 28, 1976·No. No. 70-73·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinions

Kashiwa, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This action comes before us on a stipulation of facts. The essential facts stipulated are recited below. Each of the parties claims that it is entitled to judgment on said stipulated facts. We hold for the defendant and against the plaintiff for reasons hereafter stated.

This is an action arising under the Internal Bevenue Code of 1954 for the taxable year 1959, beginning April 1, 1958, and ending March 31, 1959. Since Section 1232 of the Internal Eevenue Code of 1954 is the center of discussion, we shall first quote by footnote its relevant portions.1

[609] Plaintiff, General Foods Corporation, is a corporation dnly organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, with its principal place off business at White Plains, New York. The stipulation shows that General Foods Corporation’s principal business is the production and Sale of a wide variety of food 'and grocery products, many iii package form under nationally advertised brand names. General Foods Corporation is not now, nor has it ever been, a dealer in securities. During the taxable year 1959, plaintiff held promissory notes with no stated interest issued by various corporations. The notes, commonly referred to as commercial paper, were non-registered bearer instruments containing an unconditional promise to pay a specified amount on a specified date at a specified place. Plaintiff purchased each of the notes [610] f nom. tflie issuer or from Goldman, Sachs & Company, a dealer in securities, at an amount less than its face value. The notes were held by plaintiff for periods ranging from 43 days to 181 days. The plaintiff held each note for a period less than six months and at maturity received the face amount from the issuer. Plaintiff retired all of the notes in the taxable year 1959. The notes were purchased by the plaintiff for investment and were not property of a type that would be held in inventory or for sale to customers in the normal course of business. All of the notes involved in this case were issued after December 31, 1954, and before May 27, 1969. The amount received by the plaintiff on retirement of each of the notes which exceeded the amount paid by plaintiff for the note was1 original issue discount; no part of that amount was 'attributable to market fluctuations as opposed to the passage of time.

On its Federal income tax return for the taxable year 1959, beginning April 1,1958, and ending March 31,1959, plaintiff reported short-term capital gains of $608,598.99. This was the amount received over and above the purchase prices from the retirement at maturity of the total of $90,750,000 non-interest-bearing corporate notes purchased by the plaintiff at a discount and held for less than six months. During the taxable year 1959 plaintiff had net capital loss carryovers from the prior years in the amount of $518,840.74. There is no dispute as to this loss carryover. Plaintiff claims that it is entitled to deduct the loss carryover from the above-mentioned gain of $608,598.99 because the gain is short-term capital gain.

On October 29, 1965, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue mailed to the plaintiff a statement of tax due, assessing a deficiency in income taxes for the taxable year 1959 in the amount of $345,638 plus interest. Plaintiff paid this amount plus interest on November 8, 1965. The amount of $208,291 of this deficiency assessment resulted from the Commissioner treating as interest income rather than as short-term capital gain the amount of $608,598.99 received by plaintiff over and 'above the purchase prices on the retirement at maturity of the non-interest-bearing corporate notes purchased by the plaintiff at a discount for investment and held for less than [611] six months. On November 6, 1967, plaintiff filed a claim for refund of this amount of $208,291 plus the interest paid thereon together with interest as provided by law, representing that part of the assessed deficiency attributable to treating 'as interest income rather than short-term capital gain the amounts over and above the purchase prices, received by plaintiff on the retirement of the corporate notes. On March 1, 1971, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue disallowed in its entirety plaintiff’s claim for refund. This action for refund was filed in this court on February 27, 1973.

Both parties agree that the sole issue presented is whether gain attributable to original issue discount on evidences of indebtedness issued after December 31, 1954, and before May 28, 1969, and held by plaintiff for periods of not more than six months is taxable as short-term capital gain on the retirement of the indebtedness.

The decision in this case rests, as we shall hereafter show, upon Section 1221 but since plaintiff’s arguments center on Section 1232, we shall first examine Section 1232. Plaintiff claims that Section 1232 gives capital treatment to the gain in this case. Defendant, on the other hand, states that Section 1232 is not relevant to the original issue discount herein since Section 1232 only deals with notes which are capital assets in the hands of the taxpayer and since original issue discount under case law is not a capital asset, Section 1232 does not apply.

We shall first discuss the history of Section 1232. Section 206(a) (1) of the Revenue Act of 1921, c. 136, 42 Stat. 227, 232, defined the term “capital gain” as “taxable gain from the sale or exchange of capital assets * * This provision, without material change, was reenacted by Section 208(a) (1) of the Revenue Act of 1924, c. 234, 43 Stat. 253, 262; by Section 208(a) (1) of the Revenue Act of 1926, c. 27,44 Stat. 9,19; by Section 101 (c) (1) of the Revenue Act of 1928, c. 852, 45 Stat. 791, 811; and by Section 101(c) (1) of the Revenue Act of 1932, c. 209,47 Stat. 169,191.

The question arose as to whether, under these statutes, a redemption (retirement) of bonds constituted a sale or exchange within the meaning of that provision and successor [612] statutes. A conflict of judicial decisions 2 on the matter led Congress to en'act Section 117 (f) of the Revenue Act of 1934, c. 277, 48 Stat. 680, 715, which is the predecessor of Section 1232(a) (1). The addition of that provision assured that the retirement of notes would constitute an exchange.

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General Foods Corp. v. United States, 530 F.2d 923, 208 Ct. Cl. 606, 37 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 706, 1976 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 241 (cc 1976).

530 F.2d 923 (General Foods Corp. v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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