General Mfg. Corp. v. Commissioner

44 T.C. 513, 1965 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 61
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJuly 2, 1965
DocketDocket No. 5386-63
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 44 T.C. 513 (General Mfg. Corp. 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
General Mfg. Corp. v. Commissioner, 44 T.C. 513, 1965 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 61 (tax 1965).

Opinion

Dawson, Judge:

Respondent determined a deficiency of $43,939.04 in the income tax of petitioner for the taxable year ended October 31, 1957. The issues presented for decision are: (1) Whether petitioner, General Manufacturing Corp., and its parent, B. B. Rider Corp., filed a consolidated corporation income tax return for the taxable year ended October 31,1957; (2) whether the notice of deficiency dated 'September 5,1963, was timely issued or was barred by applicable limitation provisions of the Internal Revenue Code; (3) whether petitioner is entitled to a bad debt deduction in the amount of $754,763.76; and (4) whether petitioner is entitled to an interest deduction.in the amount of $622,414.84 instead of the $71,622.63 allowed by respondent.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated by the parties. Their stipulation and the exhibits specified therein are incorporated in these findings.

General Manufacturing Corp. (hereafter called petitioner), was incorporated in October 1950 under the laws of the State of New Jersey, as a wholly owned subsidiary of B. B. Rider Corp. (hereafter called Rider). Petitioner’s principal place of business is in Lodi, N.J. It filed its Federal corporation income tax returns on a fiscal year basis, ending on October 31 of each year, up to and including the fiscal year ended October 31, 1956, with the district director of • internal revenue at Newark, N.J.

Rider was incorporated in 1929 under the laws of the State of New Jersey. It has always been engaged in the sale and service of commercial and household refrigeration equipment and, from its inception, has held a franchise from the Frigidaire Division of General Motors Corp., as its servicing and installation contractor. About 1938 or 1939 the Stratmore family obtained the entire interest in Rider.

Benjamin A. Stratmore is president of both petitioner and Rider. Other officers of both corporations are Murray Stratmore, Irwin Strat-more, and Helen Stratmore. These persons were also members of the 'board of directors of both corporations.

Rider was primarily a sales and service organization requiring comparatively little capital. Its service operations were conducted on a cash-upon-completion basis. Its sales operations were conducted on a conditional sales contract basis which enabled Rider, whenever it needed cash for its operations, to factor the receivables, i.e., the conditional sales contracts.

Petitioner, a manufacturer of precision airplane parts as a subcontractor for major aircraft companies, carried on a unique machine-shop operation in its manufacture of silver bearings having very close tolerances. This required a large outlay of capital for the requisite machinery and equipment, for research and development, for materials and supplies, and for tooling and payrolls to carry the company through the long period between its receipt of orders, their ultimate completion and its receipt of payment therefor — a leadtime which took anywhere from 4 to 18 months.

Petitioner was organized by Rider with an initial investment of $50,000 and it immediately became necessary to borrow funds to supply the tremendous amount of capital which petitioner needed to begin operations and thereafter to continue to carry on those operations. As a newly organized corporation with an inadequate initial capital investment, petitioner had no credit standing. On the other hand, Rider had been in existence for over two decades, had a valuable franchise from the Frigidaire Division of General Motors Corp., and enjoyed a good reputation in the financial community. Rider, therefore, had to, and did, use its own credit to borrow the funds which petitioner needed, and advanced those funds for the petitioner’s use.

As its operations increased, petitioner’s working capital requirements became greater and Rider’s borrowings became larger, with the result that Rider had to pay increased rates of interest until in later years they ran as high as 2 percent per month.

Benjamin A. Stratmore had the responsibility of obtaining the necessary funds for the operations of both petitioner and Rider, of which about 85 percent to 90 percent was used fpr petitioner’s operations and about 10 percent to 15 percent was used by Rider for the purchase of sheet metal and some equipment. Although some lenders may have known or suspected that the funds they lent to Rider would be put to use in petitioner’s operations, they wanted to deal only with Rider because petitioner was “an empty shell and Rider had a fairly good reputation.” Rider would deposit the lender’s checks, made out to its order, in its own bank account and would then advance the funds thus obtained to petitioner on open account.

Petitioner operated at a loss in 4 of the first 6 years of operation and began its seventh fiscal year (ended October 31, 1957) with an operating loss carryover of $6,277.97. In its fiscal year ended October 31, 1957, it had an operating profit of $103,636.50 before taking into account any operating loss carryover.

Beginning with the calendar year 1952, Eider operated at a loss in every year, producing a deficit as of the beginning of 1957 of $1,076,423.79.

Each company maintained its own separate records, books of account, and bank accounts. There was, however, considerable intermingling of the funds between Eider and petitioner. Funds were transferred from the bank account of one company to the bank account of the other, depending upon their respective immediate cash needs. From November 1956 through August 1957 many transfers took place, including the payment by one company, out of its own bank account, of the expenses and capital obligations of the other. Some of these transactions included the payment of principal and interest to unsecured loan creditors.

On or about January 16,1958, petitioner applied for, and obtained, an extension of time to April 15, 1958, within which to file its corpora-' tion income tax return for the fiscal year ended October 31,1957; and on or about April 1, 1958, petitioner applied for, and obtained, a further extension of time to July 15,1958, within which to file its income tax return. On or about July Í5, 1958, petitioner applied for still another extension of time to October 15, 1958, within which to file its income tax return but such application was denied.

For all taxable years prior to January 1, 1957, Eider filed separate Federal corporation income tax returns on a calendar year basis. At no time did Eider seek, or obtain, the approval of the Commissioner of Internal Eevenue to change its accounting period from the calendar year basis it had previously used to a fiscal year period ended October 31, 1957, or a fiscal year period ended October 31, 1958.

For none of the calendar years 1950 to 1956, inclusive, did Eider file any consolidated return either on behalf of itself as parent and petitioner as subsidiary, or upon any other affiliation with any other company or companies.

On January 20, 1959, the district director of internal revenue at Newark, N.J., received a U.S. Corporation Income Tax Eeturn, Form 1120, with schedules attached, bearing the designation at the top of page 1, “B. B. Eider Corp.” and showing that it was for the taxable year ended October 31, 1957. The return was signed, at the bottom of page 1, by Benjamin A.

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General Mfg. Corp. v. Commissioner
44 T.C. 513 (U.S. Tax Court, 1965)

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Bluebook (online)
44 T.C. 513, 1965 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 61, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/general-mfg-corp-v-commissioner-tax-1965.