Henry Prentiss & Co. v. United States

57 F.2d 676, 5 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) 1525, 11 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 27, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 4050
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedApril 11, 1932
DocketNo. 318
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 57 F.2d 676 (Henry Prentiss & Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henry Prentiss & Co. v. United States, 57 F.2d 676, 5 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) 1525, 11 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 27, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 4050 (2d Cir. 1932).

Opinion

MANTON, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff in this action seeks recovery for taxes overpaid in 1918 a,nd 1920. It paid income and profits taxes for 1918 on a return to be duo in the sum of $535.144.20. An additional assessment was paid in the amount of $119,191.19. For 1920, its income and excess profits were computed on a return to be due in the sum of $92,265.40. Plaintiff’s contention is that the 1918 and 1920 taxes have been overpaid in the respective sums of $12,102.95 and $7,975.21, as a result of the Commissioner’s failure to allow in each year a sufficient sum for invested capital. It is argued that the plaintiff should have been allowed in each year an increase of invested capital of $153,871.08. Of this sum, $46,371.08 represented an additional value for real estate, and $107,500 a value for intangibles, such as good will. Below, the plaintiff was denied any amount for the calendar year 1918 because of the insufficiency of the claim for refund filed for that period. For 1920, the court granted a recovery in the sum of $7,975.21. By stipulation the real estate is valued at $81,000 as of September 1, 1916. The defendant urges that the allowance for intangibles is not justified as a matter of law.

The plaintiff was organized in August, 19.10, with an authorized capital stock of $10,000, which was issued to the Prenliss Tool & Supply Company, its predecessor in title. On the day after this stock was issued, it was increased from $10,000 to $500,-000 par value and the 4,900 new shares were issued to the original stockholders. Thereupon, all the property was transferred to the plaintiff. The stock, pursuant to a resolution therefor, was distributed pro rata to the stockholders of the old company and the property passed frota the old company to the plaintiff so that the stockholders had the same interest as before. The closing balance sheet of the old company and the opening one of the new showed the same assets and identical items of capital and liability, except that the capital stock of the Prentiss Tool & Supply Company was $25,000 and the surplus $913,894.35; whereas the plaintiff’s stock was shown as $500,000 and the surplus as $438,894.35. Neither balance sheet included any value for good will and no such item was carried on the books of either company. The capital and surplus immediately before and after this transaction was the same total sum.

Section 326 (a) of the Revenue Act of 1918 (40 Stat. 1092), provides, in the calculation of taxes, that in determining invested capital for any calendar year the taxpayer is entitled to include as such any amount representing a value for intangibles or good will if it represents, (a) an actual cash sum, paid in for stocks or shares; (b) the par value of the stock or shares issued therefor, or (e) in the aggregate 25% of the par value of the total stock or shares of the corporation outstanding on March 3, 1917, whichever is lowest. And section 327 (40 Stat. 1093) provides for the determination where the Commissioner is unable to determine invested capital as provided in section H26. But section 327 requires a specific allocation as to shares issued for tangible and intangible property. From the balance sheet and this record, it is very evident that no shares were issued by the Prentiss Tool & Supply Company or this taxpayer for intangible property. For taxation purposes, there may be no “write-up” to increase invested capital. Here the plaintiff issued all its capital stock in the sum of $500,000 to the old company in exchange for its assets. The resolution of the old company provided that the stock be acquired from the plaintiff and distributed pro rata among its stockholders. There was no item for good will. The plaintiff received in exchange for its capital stock all the business property previously owned by the Prentiss Tool & Supply Company, but the capital stock was issued for the assets as they were then fixed and valued, as the financial statement indicated. While it is true that the plaintiff is a separate corporate entity and may have acquired the property of its predecessor at a value corresponding to the property’s true value, it is also á fact that the Prentiss Tool [678]*678& Supply Company in the resolution of its hoard of directors, August 25, 1916, wherein the transfers were provided for, offered to accept $490,000 par value of the stock in lieu of cash. At this time, apparently, there was no intention to write up an increased invested capital. The value was fixed by the financial statement and there no value was allocated to good will. We must conclude that the plaintiff issued capital stock for the property as it then stood. The good will followed the property and was no part of the consideration for which the stock was issued to the plaintiff. Good will is excluded unless it has been secured at a cost. Red Wing Malting Co. v. Willcuts, 15 F.(2d) 626, 49 A. L. R. 459 (C. C. A. 8).

In La Belle Iron Works v. United States, 256 U. S. 377, 41 S. Ct. 528, 65 L. Ed. 998, the taxpayer acquired ore lands for which it paid the sum of $190,000 prior to 1904. The property appreciated so that during the period from 1912 to 1917 its actual value was upwards of $10,000,000. In 1912, the company increased the value of the ore lands on its books by adding thereto $10,-000,000, which it carried as surplus, and during- the same year it declared a stock dividend of $9,915,400. Theretofore its capital stock consisted of shares having a par value of $9,915,400. The stock dividend was accomplished by retiring its own stock and issuing one share of preferred and one share of common for each share retired. In its income tax return for the calendar year 1917 it valued its invested capital at $26,322,-904.14, which included the write-up figure of $10,105,400. The Commissioner reduced the company’s invested capital to $16,407,-507.14. The court held that invested capital was restricted to actual money, or its worth, expended. Cash and intangible property paid in are confined to such as were contributed for stock in the corporation. The taxing statute may not be construed as including within the definition of invested capital any marking up of the valuation of the assets upon the books to correspond with the increase in market value, or any paper transaction by which the new shares were issued in exchange for the old ones in the same corporation, but which were not in substanee and effect a new acquisition of capital property by the company. Hotel Wisconsin Realty Co. v. Com’r, 47 F.(2d) 842 (C. C. A. 7); Golden Cycle Corp. v. Com’r, 51 F.(2d) 927 (C. C. A. 10). It is apparent that to include good will as invested capital the stock of the company must be specifically issued for the intangibles. It is not enough to issue it for the property generally which was taken over. Good will is an incident to the business of any going concern and may follow it and not be paid in for the stock of the acquiring company. Lewis A. Crossett Co. v. United States, 50 F.(2d) 292 (Ct. Cl.); Landesman-Hirschheimer Co. v. Com’r, 44 F.(2d) 521 (C. C. A. 6).

The defendant does not dispute the undervaluation of the real estate. The elaim filed for refund of taxes paid for the calendar year 1918 is disputed because of its insufficiency and inadequacy to support this claim for additional invested capital by reason of such undervaluation. The plaintiff, in its elaim for refund, asked for its allowance stating that “it. is entitled to relief under sections 327, 328 of the 1918 aet.” The relief to be granted under these sections eoneededly is not similar to that which is now sought in this suit. Section 1113 of the Revenue Aet of 1926 (44 Stat.

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57 F.2d 676, 5 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) 1525, 11 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 27, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 4050, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henry-prentiss-co-v-united-states-ca2-1932.