International State Bank v. Commissioner

70 T.C. 173, 1978 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedMay 8, 1978
DocketDocket No. 9343-74
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 70 T.C. 173 (International State Bank 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
International State Bank v. Commissioner, 70 T.C. 173, 1978 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125 (tax 1978).

Opinions

Fay, Judge:

Respondent determined the following deficiencies in petitioner’s Federal income taxes:

Year Deficiency
1970 .$2,832.81
1971 . 8,496.20

Due to concessions, the sole issue remaining is whether the basis of certain assets received by petitioner upon the liquidation of its wholly owned subsidiary should be computed by reference to the subsidiary’s basis in such assets pursuant to section 334(b)(1),1 or by reference to petitioner’s adjusted basis in the stock of the subsidiary.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Most of the facts in this case have been stipulated and are so found.

Petitioner International State Bank (hereinafter referred to as petitioner or the Bank) is a New Mexico banking corporation with offices in Raton and Cimarron, N. Mex. It is a member of the Federal Reserve System and has been in existence since 1918. Petitioner filed its Federal corporate income tax returns for the calendar years in issue with the Internal Revenue Service Center at Austin, Tex.

At all times relevant herein, the stock of petitioner (40,000 shares of common stock) was owned as follows:

Number
Shareholders of shares Percentage
Di Lisio Family2 . 26,940.25 67.35
Enterprises .4,473.50 11.18
Industries .1,763.00 4.41
Others ....6,823.25 17.06
Total . 40,000.00 100.00

Di Lisio Industries, Inc. (Industries), and Di Lisio Enterprises, Inc. (Enterprises), are New Mexico corporations, each having one class of stock. The Di Lisio .family owned all of the outstanding stock of Industries and Enterprises during the years in issue.

Swastika Hotel Corp. (Swastika) was organized in Raton, N. Mex. in 1928. Swastika’s assets consisted primarily of a six-story hotel structure erected in 1929 and three parcels of land located in. Raton. The hotel building, a brick structure, was the largest building in Raton. In 1968 the hotel was permanently closed because it could not be operated profitably. On February 10, 1970, Industries owned all of the outstanding stock of Swastika.

Prior to 1970 and the transaction in issue, the Bank occupied one floor and a portion of the basement of .a building located in the downtown area of Raton, N. Mex. During the period of time the Bank had occupied these premises, its gross assets had grown from $288,220.76 to $14,215,891.08, and the work force from 4 persons to approximately 35.. It was the desire of the board of directors of the Bank to acquire larger facilities for the use of the Bank within the approximate 4-block area which comprised downtown Raton. There were limited buildings and space available in that area, and the Bank was under external pressure from the Federal Reserve and the New Mexico State Bank Examiner, in addition'to its internal growth problems, to move to more adequate and safer premises. In late 1969 and early 1970 the board of directors- discussed the advisability of the Bank acquiring the hotel structure owned by Swastika to fulfill its need for new facilities.

On January 10,1970, following consultation with counsel, the parties involved agreed that petitioner would acqüire the stock of Swastika from Industries and liquidate Swastika immediately thereafter. Pursuant to the prearranged plan, an agreement was entered into on February 10, 1970, between Industries as seller and the Bank as buyer, whereby the Bank agreed to purchase 100 percent of the stock of Swastika for $180,864.07. The purchase price would be paid by the Bank issuing 7-percent convertible debentures in the amount of $180,000 and paying the balance in cash.3

During the period January 10,1970, to February 23,1970, the Bank, Industries, and Swastika each conducted meetings of their respective directors and shareholders and passed the necessary resolutions consummating the sale of the Swastika stock and.the adoption of a plan of liquidation by Swastika. By reason of the acquisition by the Bank of 100 percent of its stock, Swastika became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank. At all times before the stock acquisition, the Bank intended to liquidate Swastika and, immediately after such .acquisition, Swastika conveyed its real property to the Bank by warranty deed, pursuant to its plan of liquidation.

After the liquidation of Swastika, the Bank allocated the purchase price of. the stock to the tangible assets' acquired -in determining its basis in such assets for depreciation purposes. The adjusted basis of the hotel building carried by Swastika on its books at the time the building was received by the Bank was $32,051.11.

Upon audit of the Bank’s income tax returns for the years in issue, respondent disallowed a portion of the depreciation deductions claimed by petitioner based on his determination that petitioner’s basis in the hotel building upon the liquidation of Swastika was the same amount as it was in the hands of Swastika ($32,051), and not the stepped-up basis of $180,000 reported by petitioner on its returns.4

OPINION

The issue presented concerns the basis of assets received by petitioner upon the liquidation of its wholly owned subsidiary.

Section 332 provides that under certain conditions, no gain or loss is generally recognized by a corporation upon the complete liquidation of its subsidiary. The statutory provisions with respect to the basis of assets received in a distribution to which section 332 applies are contained in section 334(b).5 Section 334(b)(1) provides the general rule that the basis of assets received by the distributee-parent corporation, upon liquidation of its subsidiary under section 332, is the basis such assets had in the hands of the transferor-subsidiary. This is commonly referred to as a carryover basis. An exception to this general rule is contained in section 334(b)(2) which provides that if certain conditions are met, the basis of the assets received by the parent-distributee corporation is an amount equal to the parent’s adjusted basis in the stock of the subsidiary. This is sometimes referred to as a cost basis. In order to qualify for cost treatment under section 334(b)(2), however, the parent must have acquired its stock in the subsidiary by “purchase.” If there is no “purchase,” the exception provided by section 334(b)(2) is inapplicable. The word “purchase” as used in section 334(b)(2) is a term of art, defined by section 334(b)(3) as any acquisition of stock, which meets certain enumerated requirements. One of those requirements is that:

the stock is not acquired from a person the ownership of whose stock would, under section 318(a), be attributed to the person acquiring such stock. [Section 334(b)(3)(C).]

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Bluebook (online)
70 T.C. 173, 1978 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-state-bank-v-commissioner-tax-1978.