Heer-Andres Inv. Co. v. Commissioner

22 T.C. 385, 1954 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 201
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMay 21, 1954
DocketDocket No. 46537
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 22 T.C. 385 (Heer-Andres Inv. Co. 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
Heer-Andres Inv. Co. v. Commissioner, 22 T.C. 385, 1954 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 201 (tax 1954).

Opinion

OPINION.

Withey, Judge:

The respondent determined deficiencies in petitioner’s income tax in the amount of $17,457.20 and in declared value excess-profits tax in the amount of $5,336.34 for the taxable year ended January 31, 1945. The issue for decision is -whether the adjustment made by the respondent is authorized by section 3801 (b) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

All of the facts have been stipulated and are so found.

Petitioner is a Missouri corporation located in Springfield, Missouri. It filed its tax returns for the year ended January 31, 1945, with the collector for the sixth district of Missouri. It keeps its books and files its tax returns on the accrual method for fiscal years ending January 31.

A major portion of petitioner’s income is rental or leasehold income, derived from a long-term lease to Heer’s, Incorporated, a Missouri corporation, and the income in the present controversy is such rental or leasehold income. There is no affiliation, connection, or relationship between petitioner and Heer’s, Incorporated, other' than the relationship of lessor and lessee.

Effective March 1,1940, petitioner entered into a lease with Heer’s, Incorporated, for a term of 15 years. Subsequently the lease was extended to expire August 31, 1969. The lease provides that the lessee shall pay a minimum rental of $1,625 per month, payable monthly in advance, on or before the 10th day of each calendar month of the lease and further provides for the payment of additional rent as follows:

Provided, however, that in addition to the minimum rent as set forth, the lessee will yield and pay unto the lessor, as additional rent, within ten (10) days following January 31 of each year, during the term of this leasehold, the amount by which three (3%) [sic] of the lessee’s net sales (as hereinafter defined) for each twelve (12) months’ period preceding February first of each year during the term of this leasehold, shall exceed the minimum rent hereinabove specified to be yielded and paid unto the lessor during each twelve (12) months’ period.

At all times after entering into the lease, to and through the fiscal year ended January 31,1945, and for several years thereafter, the item of additional rent, paid in accordance with the above quoted provision of the lease, sometimes hereinafter referred to as “additional rent,” was accrued by petitioner on its books and reported by it on its income tax returns in and for the fiscal years in which it became payable by the lessee. As a result the additional rent payable by the lessee on February 10, 1944, was accrued by petitioner as income for the fiscal year ended January 31, 1945, and was reported as income in its income tax return for that fiscal year; and the additional rent payable on February 10, 1945, was accrued as income for the fiscal year ended January 31, 1946, and was reported as income for that year.

The following schedule shows the amount of additional rent paid by the lessee for the indicated years, when received and accrued by petitioner, and the fiscal year for which reported as income by petitioner:

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A prior proceeding, Docket No. 28148, reported at 17 T. C. 786, involved deficiencies in income tax and declared value excess-profits tax determined by respondent against the petitioner for the fiscal year ended January 31, 1946, and a deficiency in income tax for the fiscal year ended January 31, 1947. In determining the deficiency for the fiscal year 1947, the respondent determined that the additional rent of $86,628.65, reported by the petitioner as income for the fiscal year 1948, was income to the petitioner for the fiscal year 1947, and that the additional rent of $62,370.49, reported by petitioner for the fiscal year 1947, was income to the petitioner for the fiscal year 1946. In determining the deficiencies for the fiscal year 1946, the respondent determined that the additional rent of $62,370.49, reported by petitioner as income for the fiscal year 1947, was income to the petitioner for the fiscal year 1946 and taxable to it for that year. In making this determination, the respondent made no adjustment with respect to the additional rent of $47,503.87 received and accrued by petitioner in February 1945 and.reported as a part of its income for the fiscal year 1946. The effect of the respondent’s action was to include both amounts, $62,370.49 and $47,503.87, or a total of $109,874.36, as income taxable to the petitioner for the fiscal year 1946. At the time of the foregoing determinations by respondent the period of limitations provided in section 275 (a) of the Internal Eevenue Code for making assessment of income, declared value excess-profits, and excess profits taxes for the fiscal year ended January 31, 1945, and prior years, had expired.

In the prior proceeding the petitioner contended that its method of reporting the amounts of additional rent as income for the fiscal years during which they became payable rather than for the fiscal years with respect to which they were payable was correct and accurately reflected its income. The respondent contended that the amounts of additional rent determined by him as income for the respective years accrued during, and should have been reported as income for, the respective years. We sustained the respondent’s contention.

The petitioner advanced an alternative contention with respect to the fiscal year 1946 to the effect that if it be held that the additional rent of $62,370.49 which it had reported as income for the fiscal year 1947 was properly taxable for the fiscal year 1946, then the $47,503.87 which became payable in February 1945 and was reported as income for the fiscal year 1946 should not be included in its taxable income for the fiscal year 1946. In considering the respondent’s contention and holding for the petitioner, we said:

The Commissioner’s position is predicated upon the contention that the period of limitations had expired upon his power to proceed with respect to the year ended January 31, 1945, and that unless this item of $47,503.87, reported by petitioner in its 1946 return, is taxed in that year it will escape taxation entirely. In this connection, the Commissioner relies upon Schuman Carriage Co., 43 B. T. A. 880 * * *
The Selmman case does indeed furnish support for the respondent’s position. However, more recent decisions appear to require a contrary result. Robert G. Frame, 16 T. C. 600; Estate of Samuel Mnookin, 12 T. C. 744, affd. (C. A. 8) 184 F. 2d 89. In the circumstances, we hold that the additional rent of $47,503.87 with respect to the year ended January 31, 1945, may not be included in petitioner’s income for the following fiscal year.

Within 1 year subsequent to the entry of our decision in the prior proceeding the respondent determined the deficiencies involved in the instant proceeding, stating that the assessment thereof was proposed under the provisions of section 3801 (c) of the Internal Revenue Code. In determining said deficiencies, the respondent determined that the' additional rent of $47,503.87, which became payable in February 1945, and was reported by petitioner as income for the fiscal year 1946, and which we held in the prior proceeding was not to be included in income for the fiscal year 1946, was income for the fiscal year 1945.

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Heer-Andres Inv. Co. v. Commissioner
22 T.C. 385 (U.S. Tax Court, 1954)

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Bluebook (online)
22 T.C. 385, 1954 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 201, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heer-andres-inv-co-v-commissioner-tax-1954.