Haussermann v. Burnet

63 F.2d 124, 61 App. D.C. 347, 12 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 143, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 3337, 3 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) 1020
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedJanuary 3, 1933
DocketNo. 5547
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 63 F.2d 124 (Haussermann v. Burnet) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haussermann v. Burnet, 63 F.2d 124, 61 App. D.C. 347, 12 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 143, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 3337, 3 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) 1020 (D.C. Cir. 1933).

Opinion

GRONER, Associate Justice.

This appeal involves deficiencies in income taxes for the years 1922 and 1923, and, by consolidation- under No. 5548, ’the years 1924 and 1925. Petitioner is a citizen of the United States, who has resided in tbe PMlippine Islands since November, 1898. He was formerly a member of tbe Philippine bar, but in 1903, as attorney for a group of interested parties, he organized the Benguet Consolidated Mining Company as a sociedad anónima under the provisions of the Code of Commerce of Spain then in effect in the Philippine Islands. He became a member qf the board and owned a small interest in the shares of the organization. Later he increased his holdings. Prior to 1915 the mining company had financial difficulties and suspended operations, and in that year petitioner reorganized the company and devoted thereafter practically Ms entire time to its. affairs. In 1917 he became its largest stockholder, and since that date he and Ms former law associate have dominated its affairs. During each of the years 1920 to 1925, inclusive, more than 80 per centum of petitioner’s gross income was derived from sources [125]*125within the Philippine Islands and consisted of amounts received as salary and director’s fees and by distributions by way of dividends out of tbe earnings of the mining company. In 1920 petitioner’s total income amounted to approximately $26,000, of which a little more than $2,700 resulted from salary and director’s fees, a little more than $12,000 from dividends from the mining company, and a little more than $11,000 from other income. In 1921 his total income was a little in excess of $5,000, of whieh approximately $3,600 was dividends from the mining company and a little less than $500 salary. In 1922 his total income was above $20,000, his salary $1,000, his dividends $18,000. In 1923 his salary was nearly $13,000 and Ms dividends $68,000. In 1924 his salary was $2,600 and his dividends $100,000. And in 1925 Ms salary $600 and his dividends $120,000, of a total income of $124,000.

In filing Ms income tax returns for the several years, petitioner claimed the benefits of section 262 of the Revenue Act of 192-1 (42 Stat. 271), section 262 of Revenue Act 1924, and 1926 (26 USCA § 1030). The Commissioner held, and the Board sustained his holding, that the amounts received out of the earnings of the mining company upon Ms interest therein did not represent income “derived from the active conduct of a trade or business within a possession of the United States” by the petitioner “either on his own account or as an employee or agent of another.” The findings of fact by the board show that petitioner derived more than 80 per centum of Ms total gross income from sources within the Philippines, but the Board held that, while this fact satisfied the requirements of subdivision (a) (1) of section 262, it was not sufficient, because subdivisions (a) (1) and (a) (3) should he construed in the conjunctive rather than in the disjunctive or alternative, and that, since petitioner’s income was not derived “from the active conduct of a trade or business either on his own account or as agent or employee of another,” he was not entitled to the benefits of the section.

Petitioner on this appeal assigns as error, first, the action of the Board in holding subdivisions (a) (1) and (a) (3) of section 262 eonjunclive rather than disjunctive; and, second, that the Board erred in not holding that 50 per centum of petitioner’s gross income was derived from the active conduct of a trade or business by petitioner on his own account, etc.

Prom what has just been said, it will bo seen that the questions presented involve a construction of section 262 (a) of the Revenue Act of 1921. The section is as follows:

See. 262. (a) That “in the case of citizens of the Umted States or domestic corporations, satisfying the following conditions, gross income means only gross income from sources within the United States—

“(1) If 80 per centum or more of the gross income of such citizen or domestic corporation (computed without the benefit of this section), for the three-year period immediately preceding the close of the taxable year (or for sueh part of such period immediately preceding the close of such taxable year as may be applicable) was derived from sources within a possession of the United States; and

“(2) If, in the ease of such corporation, 50 per centum or more of its gross income (computed without the benefit of this section) for sueh period or sueh part thereof was derived from the active conduct of a trade or business within a possession of the United States; or

“(3) If, in the case of such citizen, 50 per centum or more of Ms gross income (computed without the benefit of this section) for sueh period or such part thereof was derived from the active conduct of a trade or business within a possession of the United States either on his own account or as an employee or agent of another.”

It is therefore obvious that, if subdivision (a) (1) of section 262 should be construed in the disjunctive, petitioner is not chargeable with the tax, but we agree with the Commissioner and the Board that tMs interpretation cannot be sustained.

The language of the section shows that Congress was dealing with two classes of taxpayers, namely, individuals and corporations. Subparagraph (1), applicable to both, provides that, if 80 per centum or more of gross income is derived from sources within a possession of the United States, and (2) in the case of a corporation if 50 per centum of such gross income was derived from the active conduct of a trade or business within a possession of the United States, and (3) in the case of an individual (United States citizen) if 50 per centum of gross income was derived from the active conduct of a trade or business, etc., “either on his own account or as an employee or agent of another,” benefits of the section shall apply.

[126]*126In our view it is impossible to interpret the section otherwise than to ascribe to its requirements the condition that a corporation must bring itself within the terms of subdivisions (1) and (2) and the individual within subdivisions (1) and (3). Petitioner apparently concedes the correctness of this interpretation of the statute as applicable to corporations, but insists that by the use of the word “or” at the conclusion of subparagraph (2) Congress did not intend the interpretation we think should be made to apply to an individual. But this would be a strained construction of the section. Congress was dealing, as we have already seen, with two classes of taxpayers, and it is plain that the requirements as to each were the same. Both must have derived 80 per centum of gross income from soui'ces within a possession of the United States, and both must have derived 50 per centum or more from the active conduct of a trade or business, likewise within a possession of the United States. To hold with petitioner would be to say that the congressional purpose in the enactment was to apply the rule just above announced to cor-' porations but in the case of an individual to extend the benefits of the section without regard to whether any part of such income was derived from the active conduct of a business. The contrary of this has been consistently the ruling of the Treasury Department since the enactment of the Revenue Act of 1921. See Treasury Regulations 62, arts. 1135 and 1136.

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Bluebook (online)
63 F.2d 124, 61 App. D.C. 347, 12 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 143, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 3337, 3 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) 1020, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haussermann-v-burnet-cadc-1933.