Intercounty Operating Corp. v. Commissioner

4 T.C. 55, 1944 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 55
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedSeptember 28, 1944
DocketDocket Nos. 110381, 112302
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 4 T.C. 55 (Intercounty Operating Corp. 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
Intercounty Operating Corp. v. Commissioner, 4 T.C. 55, 1944 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 55 (tax 1944).

Opinion

OPINION.

Tyson, Judge:

There is no controversy between the parties as to the excess of the amounts received by petitioner in the taxable years from the redemption of tax liens held by it above the amounts paid by it in the purchase of such liens; and petitioner does not deny that such excess was gain, but denies that it was interest, as is contended by respondent. It is also undisputed that all of petitioner’s outstanding stock was then owned by Hot more than five individuals and that over 94 percent of its gross income for the fiscal year ended January 31, 1940, and over 99 percent of its gross income for the fiscal year ended January 31, 1941, consisted of such excess, thus bringing petitioner, with regard to such stock ownership and percentages of gross income, within the provisions of section 501 (a) (1) and (2) of the Internal Revenue Code1 relating to the definition of a personal holding company and its income within section 502 of that code if such excess constituted interest. The first issue therefore is whether such excess constituted interest within the meaning of section 502 (a) of the Internal Revenue Code.2

On the first issue respondent contends that the New York statutes designate as “interest” the amount of the gain realized by petitioner through the redemption of its tax sale certificates, represented by certain percentages upon the amount paid for such certificates, and that for that-reason alone such gain should be held to be interest within the meaning of section 502 (a), supra, and in the amount of at least 80 percent of petitioner’s gross income under section 501 (a) (1), supra. He also contends that the gain constitutes such interest within the broad meaning of section 502 independently of the provisions of thé New York statutes. Petitioner contests these contentions.

We will first consider the effect of the New York statutes on the question of whether the gains represented by the percentages on the amounts paid by petitioner for the tax lien certificates and received by it from redemption of its tax liens constitute interest includible in petitioner’s personal holding company income under section 502 (a), supra,.

Chapter 477 of the Laws of New York of 1932, which was operative during the years of the purchase of the tax lien certificates and the redemptions of the lands involved and deals with the sale of lands for taxes and the redemption of same in Nassau County, New York, and amends section 85 of chapter 541 of the Laws of 1916, as added by chapter 154 of the Laws of 1919, provides, in part, as follows:

Section 85. * * * Such lands shall be sold for an amount sufficient to pay all the taxes and assessments due thereon for the years for the taxes of which said sales shall be made with interest thereon to the time of sale, and all costs, expenses and charges accrued thereon and * * * said amount paid for such property shall carry and bear the maximum interest and penalties as follows: Ten per centum on the purchase price, if redeemed within 6 months of date of sale. An additional 10 per centum on the purchase price if redeemed after the expiration of six months and within twelve months of the date of sale * * * (followed by similar language with regard to additional percentages covering each six months until four years have expired) * * * The rate of interest at which any person or persons shall offer to take the lot or parcel of land to be sold shall be established by his bid. The rate thus established shall be the rate of interest up to the time of the redemption of the property purchased and until the expiration of four years.
Section 89. The owner of, or any person interested in, * * * any real estate sold for taxes * * * as aforesaid, may redeem the same at any time within forty-eight months after the date of such sale upon the following terms: If redeemed within Forty-five months by paying to the county treasurer the sum for which such property was purchased with the interest or penalties thereon, * * * calculated and added to such purchase price as provided in section eighty-five hereof. * * *

The provisions of chapter 175 of the Laws of New York, 1937, section 45, and chapter 152 of the Laws of New York of 1929, section 49, with-reference to the sale of lands for unpaid taxes and their redemption in Suffolk County, New York, are, in effect, identical with sections 85 and 89 of the Laws of New York, 1932, chapter 477, above quoted, except that the maximum rate of interest and penalties is 6 percent instead of 10 percent and the period of redemption is 36 instead of 48 months.

The provisions of chapter 175, supra, above referred to, were in effect, as agreed by the parties on brief, during the years of the purchases of the tax lien certificates and the redemption of the lands involved.

Chapter 441 of the Laws of New York of 1938, as amended, with regard to Monroe County, provides for sales at public auction of so much of a parcel of land as may be necessary to discharge the taxes, interest, and charges on the whole parcel. Sections 20, 22, and 31 thereof are substantially the same as sections 6 and 8 of chapter 107 of the laws of 1884, in effect prior to April 4, 1938, and provide, in part, as follows:

Section 20. Payments and fees — The purchasers at such sale shall pay the amounts of their respective bids to the said treasurer immediately after the sale, and after such payments shall have been made the said treasurer shall add a penalty of ten per centum thereto for the benefit of the said purchasers, and shall give the purchaser of any such real estate a certificate describing the lands purchased, the sum paid and the penalty attached thereto, * * *
Section 22. Redemption of lands for unpaid taxes — At any time within two years after the last day of any sale of land for taxes as aforesaid, any person may redeem the same by paying to the county treasurer, for the use of the purchaser, * * * the sums mentioned in his certificate, with interest thereon at the rate of ten per cent per annum from the date of such sale.
Section 31. Lien holders may redeem. — Any person having an interest in or lien upon premises sold for taxes, pursuant to the provisions of this act, and remaining unredeemed after the expiration of the two year period prescribed in section twenty-two of this act, may thereafter and at any time before proceedings are instituted by any purchaser to obtain possession and title of lands sold for unpaid taxes * * * redeem said land by paying into the county treasury such consideration money with the addition of thirty-five pereentum thereon * * *.

The above provisions of chapter 441, or their counterparts in chapter 107, supra, were in effect, as agreed by the parties on brief, during the years of the purchases of the tax lien certificates in Monroe County by petitioner and the redemption of the lands in that county from such liens.

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Intercounty Operating Corp. v. Commissioner
4 T.C. 55 (U.S. Tax Court, 1944)

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Bluebook (online)
4 T.C. 55, 1944 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 55, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/intercounty-operating-corp-v-commissioner-tax-1944.