Heffelfinger v. Commissioner

5 T.C. 985, 1945 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 53
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedOctober 25, 1945
DocketDocket No. 2437
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 5 T.C. 985 (Heffelfinger 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
Heffelfinger v. Commissioner, 5 T.C. 985, 1945 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 53 (tax 1945).

Opinion

OPINION.

Leecii, Judge-.

Respondent determined a deficiency of $5,879.92 in income taxes against petitioner for the calendar year 19-11. In the income tax return of petitioner for that year he deducted the entire amount of $24,898.14 for income taxes paid to the Dominion of Canada during such j'ear. Respondent disallowed $15,807.13 of this amount under sections 24 and 116 of the Internal Revenue Code. The propriety of that action presents the only issue. We find the facts to be as stipulated. The stipulation follows:

1. Petitioner is an individual whose business address is 312 Chamber of Commerce, Minneapolis, Minnesota. At ail times here material, petitioner was and is a citizen of the United Slates. During (he entire calendar years 1939 and 1940 (and for some years prior thereto) and up to March 22, 1941, he was a resident of Canada. On the latter date lie moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has since been a resident of the United States.
2. The petitioner filed United States Federal income tax returns on a calendar year basis for the years 1939, 1940 as a non-resident citizen, and for 1941 as a resident citizen with the Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of Minnesota. Said returns were on a cash receipts and disbursements basis.
3. In his United States Income tax returns for the years 1939 and 1910 tire petitioner did not include therein salary received by linn while he was a resident of and employed in Canada and the respondent made no adjustments relative thereto in the petitioner’® returns. The petitioner has never paid the United States any tax on income in respect of the aforesaid salaries.
4. In his United States income fax return for 1941 the petitioner included in his gross income salary in the amount of $4,375 earned in Canada during the period from January 1, 1941 to March 21, 1941.
5. Subsequent to March 22 and prior to December 31, 1941 the petitioner paid Canadian income taxes to the Dominion of Canada at American exchange rates of $24,398.14 ($27,0S1.9G minus $2,0S3.S2 difference in exchange rales) and claimed the amount as a deduction in his 1941 United States Federal income tax return. No part of the foregoing Canadian taxes paid of $27,081.90 is applicable to petitioner’s aforesaid Canadian income of $i,375 earned during the period January 1 to March 21, 1941.
0. Stated in American dollars, of the sum of $24,398.14 paid in 1941 to the Dominion of Canada, $400.01 thereof was paid in respect of petitioner’s 1939 income while $23,938.13 thereof was paid in respect of his 1040 income.
7. Stated in Canadian dollars, of the sum of $27,081.96 paid in 1941 to the Dominion of Canada, $400.01 thereof was paid in respect of petitioner’s 1939 income while $20,571.35 was paid in respect of his 1940 income.
8. Petitioner’s total income for the years 1939 and 1940 upon which income tax was paid by him to the Dominion of Canada amounted to $31,805.19 and $54,461.43, respectively. Included in these amounts was income received from sources within the United States of $18,440.15 and $18,939.50, respectively. These latter amounts were reported in petitioner’s United States Federal income tax returns for the said years 1939 and 1940. In terms of percentages the income received by petitioner in 1939 and 1940 from sources within the United States and which was reported for United States Federal income tax purposes amounted to 57.888% and 34.776%, respectively, of his total income in those years.
9. Throughout the year 1941 the value of a Canadian dollar was 90.09 cents in United States money.
10. The tax liability declared on petitioner’s United States Income tax return for 1941 was paid in tbe amounts of $626.51, $626.51, $626.51, and $626.40 on March 17, June 16, September 16, and December 15, 1942, respectively.

The notice of deficiency sets out the reason for the contested dis-allowance as follows:

The net amount of $24,398.14 ($27,081.96 in Canadian currency reflected in tine 13 less $2,0S3.82 reflected as Canadian exchange on line 8) deducted in your return as Canadian income taxes has been disallowed as a deduction to the extent of $15,807.13 under the provisions of Sections 24 and 116 of the Infernal Revenue Code. The amount disallowed is allocable to tax exempt Canadian income, and is computed as follows:
Taxes applicable to the year 1939, paid in 1941 (57.888% of 90.09% of $510.61)_ $266.29
Taxes applicable to the year 1940, paid in 1941 (34.776% of 90.09% of $26,571.35)_ 8,324.72
Canadian taxes allowable as a deduction_ 8, 591. 01
Amount deducted (90.09% of $27,0S1.96)_24,398.14
Amount disallowed as a deduction. 15, 807.13

The use of the percentage of 90.09 percent above merely adjusts the respective taxes for each year in terms of American currency. The percentage of 57.888 percent represents what the income received by petitioner in 1939 from sources within the United States and reported for United States income tax purposes bears to his total income for such year (: 18,446.15 31,865.19 or 57.888 percent), while the percentage of 34.776 percent represents what the income received by petitioner in 1940 from sources within the United States and reported for United States income tax purposes bears to his total income for that year or 34.776 percent). /18,939.50 \54,461.43

Petitioner does not attack the correctness of the foregoing allocation, if any allocation is proper under the law. His contention is that all, and not a part, of the Canadian income taxes he paid in 1941 are deductible. His position is that section 116 (a) of the Interna] Revenue Code1 is not applicable and does not justify any allocation because he was not a bona fide nonresident of the United States for more than six months of the calendar year 1941 ; that the contested deduction is not limited or affected by section 24 (a) (5) of the code,2 since the salary earned in Canada by petitioner in 1939 and 1940, upon which the Canadian income taxes were paid, is not a class “of income * * * wholly exempt from the taxes imposed * * *” under chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code or Title I of the prior revenue acts; and the allowance of the entire contested deduction accordingly follows under section 23 (c) (1) (C).3

Respondent apparently concedes that section 23 (c)(1)(C) would warrant the contested deduction except for section 24 (a) (5), sufra, as construed by Regulations 103, section 19.24-4,4 under 'which the respondent proceeded in determining the deficiency.5

The Canadian income taxes petitioner paid in 1941 were obviously allocable to the Canadian income received in 1939 and 1940 for United States Federal income tax purposes.6

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Heffelfinger v. Commissioner
5 T.C. 985 (U.S. Tax Court, 1945)

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Bluebook (online)
5 T.C. 985, 1945 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 53, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heffelfinger-v-commissioner-tax-1945.