Gustafson's Dairy v. Commissioner

1995 T.C. Memo. 11, 69 T.C.M. 1639, 1995 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 11
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJanuary 11, 1995
DocketDocket No. 24670-93
StatusUnpublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1995 T.C. Memo. 11 (Gustafson's Dairy 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
Gustafson's Dairy v. Commissioner, 1995 T.C. Memo. 11, 69 T.C.M. 1639, 1995 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 11 (tax 1995).

Opinion

GUSTAFSON'S DAIRY, INC., Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Gustafson's Dairy v. Commissioner
Docket No. 24670-93
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1995-11; 1995 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 11; 69 T.C.M. (CCH) 1639;
January 11, 1995, Filed
*11 For petitioner: James H. Sheehan and John S. Ball.
For respondent: Michael A. Pesavento.

PARKER

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PARKER, Judge: This case is before the Court on petitioner's motion under Rule 142(e) to shift the burden of proof to respondent to the limited extent set forth in section 534(a)(2). 1

In the notice of deficiency, dated August 26, 1993, respondent determined deficiencies and additions to tax as follows:

Additions to Tax
Sec. 6653
Year EndedDeficiencies(a)(1)(A) Sec.6653(a)(1)(B)Sec.6653(a)
March 31, 1987$ 372,401$ 18,62050% of interest
due on $ 372,401
March 31, 1988674,38633,71950% of interest
due on $ 674,386
March 31, 1989246,286--  --  $ 12,314

Respondent determined that petitioner is liable for the accumulated earnings*12 tax imposed by section 531 for the fiscal years ended March 31, 1987, March 31, 1988, and March 31, 1989.

In an Amendment to Answer, respondent asserted that petitioner had accumulations in excess of business needs of $ 9,289,501 for fiscal year ended March 31, 1987, $ 9,583,002 for fiscal year ended March 31, 1988, and $ 10,001,121 for fiscal year ended March 31, 1989, pursuant to revised Bardahl calculations. 2 These revised calculations do not affect the amounts of the deficiencies or additions to tax asserted in the notice of deficiency and do not raise any new issues.

Sections 531 and 532 impose an accumulated earnings tax on any corporation that is availed of for the purpose of avoiding income tax with respect to its shareholders by permitting earnings and profits to accumulate instead of being divided or distributed. The fact that earnings and profits are permitted to accumulate "beyond the reasonable*13 needs of the business" shall be determinative of the purpose to avoid the income tax with respect to shareholders, unless the corporation proves to the contrary by a preponderance of the evidence. Sec. 533(a).

Petitioner contends that its reasonably anticipated business needs exceeded its accumulated earnings and profits and that, therefore, it does not owe any accumulated earnings tax.

The reasonableness of petitioner's claimed business needs will be the primary issue in any trial of the merits of this case. If those needs exceed accumulated taxable income (after adjustments under section 535(b)), petitioner will owe no tax; if they do not, petitioner nonetheless will be able to reduce its accumulated taxable income by the amount of any reasonable accumulations. Sec. 535(a), (c).

Contrary to ordinary Tax Court practice under Rule 142(a), the burden of proving the allegation that all or any part of the earnings and profits of a corporation have been permitted to accumulate beyond the reasonable needs of the business shall be on respondent if the taxpayer has submitted a sufficient statement as described in section 534(c). Sec. 534(a)(2).

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Related

Gustafson's Dairy v. Commissioner
1997 T.C. Memo. 519 (U.S. Tax Court, 1997)
Zeeman Mfg. Co. v. Commissioner
1997 T.C. Memo. 322 (U.S. Tax Court, 1997)
Gabelli Funds v. Commissioner
1995 T.C. Memo. 68 (U.S. Tax Court, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1995 T.C. Memo. 11, 69 T.C.M. 1639, 1995 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 11, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gustafsons-dairy-v-commissioner-tax-1995.