Hilldun Corp. v. Commissioner

1967 T.C. Memo. 210, 26 T.C.M. 1035, 1967 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 51
United States Tax Court·Decided October 26, 1967·No. Docket Nos. 5647-63, 2625-65.·Unpublished·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Hilldun Corporation v. Commissioner.
Hilldun Corp. v. Commissioner
Docket Nos. 5647-63, 2625-65.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1967-210; 1967 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 51; 26 T.C.M. (CCH) 1035; T.C.M. (RIA) 67210;
October 26, 1967
*51

Held, that the petitioner was, during the taxable years in question, a personal holding company and is subject to the personal holding company tax imposed by section 541 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

Earle H. Grossman, for petitioner. Lawrence J. Shongut, for respondent.

ATKINS

Memorandum Findings of Fact and Opinion

ATKINS, Judge: The respondent determined deficiencies in income tax of $25,263.80 for the taxable year ended August 31, 1960, and $29,208.51 for the taxable year ended August 31, 1961.

The question presented is whether petitioner was a "personal holding company" within the meaning of section 542(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 for the years in question.

Findings of Fact

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are incorporated herein by this reference.

Petitioner is a corporation which was organized in the state of New York in 1932. Its principal offices are located at 566 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York. Petitioner uses an accrual method of accounting, and it filed its federal income tax returns for the taxable years ended August 31, 1960, and August 31, 1961, with the district director of internal revenue, Manhattan, New York.

All of petitioner's *52capital stock is, and was, owned as follows:

Albert Greenberg36%
Sadie Greenberg36%
Trust for benefit of Robert Greenberg14%
Trust for benefit of Marilyn Wassner
(the trustees are in both cases
Albert and Sadie Greenberg)14%

Up until June 1958, petitioner had been engaged only in the real estate business. During the taxable years ending in 1960 and 1961 it owned real estate at 200 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, New York, referred to as the "Clinton Street property," and at 1030 Hempstead Turnpike, Franklin Square, New York, referred to as the "Franklin Square property."

In June 1958, petitioner entered the field of factoring, or commercial financing. Substantial capital was required for this new venture, and it was to petitioner's advantage to continue both businesses in one corporate form and retain its existing capital in order to obtain credit and borrow money from banks. At the end of the taxable year 1957 petitioner's net worth was about $800,000.

In order to conduct its enlarged operations, petitioner moved to an office in New York City at 566 Seventh Avenue, which was about four times as large as the office it previously maintained. It hired a sales representative, purchased equipment *53such as bookkeeping machines, adding machines, and typewriters, and ordered new stationery with the heading "Hilldun Corporation, Factors."

Petitioner maintained a separate set of books and records for each of the two business operations. It placed funds in the finance operation, which were not intended to be returned to the real estate operation. A separate bank account, under the name of "Hilldun Corporation, Factors," was opened, so that there would be no intermingling of funds between the two operations.

The finance operation did not maintain separate capital accounts. Accordingly, at the end of each year, the profits of the finance operation were closed out to an "Intercompany" account maintained by the real estate operation and thence to the real estate operation's surplus account.

Occasionally monies were transferred from the bank account of the real estate operation to that of the finance operation, and were treated on the books as loans. Some of the amounts so transferred have been transferred back to the real estate operation.

The income which petitioner received from its finance operation consisted of interest received for the use of the funds which it loaned to customers. *54In its returns this income was not reported as interest but merely as receipts. For the taxable years in question it paid, respectively, $4,330.11 and $9,590.24 as interest to banks for the use of money it borrowed to use in its finance operations. These amounts were deducted by the petitioner from gross income in computing taxable income for the respective taxable years.

Store No. 1 in the Franklin Square property was occupied by a tenant under a 5-year lease which ran from March 1, 1956 to February 28, 1961. In March 1959, the tenant, at a cost of $1,300, constructed an addition at the rear of the leased store on land owned by the petitioner. Such construction required the consent of the petitioner, which was granted. At or about the time of the construction of the addition the petitioner agreed to a 3-year extension of the existing lease. Under the extension agreement the rental was increased for the additional three years by $300 per year, because of the fact that the tenant had the use of the additional land upon which the addition was constructed. However, the lease was not amended to provide for any additional rental for the remaining approximately two years of the original *555-year term. Under the terms of the lease the

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Hilldun Corp. v. Commissioner, 1967 T.C. Memo. 210, 26 T.C.M. 1035, 1967 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 51 (tax 1967).

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