Jaeger Motor Car Company v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, (Two Cases). Anna Jaeger v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Anna Jaeger, Administratrix of the Estate of Anthony A. Jaeger, Deceased v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Anna Jaeger, Administratrix of the Estate of Anthony A. Jaeger, Deceased, and Anna Jaeger v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

284 F.2d 127, 6 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5874, 1960 U.S. App. LEXIS 3311
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedNovember 16, 1960
Docket12924-12928
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 284 F.2d 127 (Jaeger Motor Car Company v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, (Two Cases). Anna Jaeger v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Anna Jaeger, Administratrix of the Estate of Anthony A. Jaeger, Deceased v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Anna Jaeger, Administratrix of the Estate of Anthony A. Jaeger, Deceased, and Anna Jaeger v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jaeger Motor Car Company v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, (Two Cases). Anna Jaeger v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Anna Jaeger, Administratrix of the Estate of Anthony A. Jaeger, Deceased v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Anna Jaeger, Administratrix of the Estate of Anthony A. Jaeger, Deceased, and Anna Jaeger v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 284 F.2d 127, 6 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5874, 1960 U.S. App. LEXIS 3311 (7th Cir. 1960).

Opinion

284 F.2d 127

JAEGER MOTOR CAR COMPANY, Petitioner,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent (two cases).
Anna JAEGER, Petitioner,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent.
Anna JAEGER, Administratrix of the Estate of Anthony A. Jaeger, deceased, Petitioner,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent.
Anna JAEGER, Administratrix of the Estate of Anthony A. Jaeger, deceased, and Anna Jaeger, Petitioner,
v.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent.

Nos. 12924-12928.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

November 16, 1960.

Carl R. Becker, Milwaukee, Wis., for petitioners.

Charles K. Rice, Asst. Atty. Gen., Sharon L. King, Lee A. Jackson, Attorneys, Tax Division, U. S. Department of Justice, Washington, D. C., for respondent.

Before HASTINGS, Chief Judge, and KNOCH and CASTLE, Circuit Judges.

KNOCH, Circuit Judge.

Anthony A. Jaeger and Anna Jaeger, husband and wife, filed individual income tax returns for the calendar years 1945, 1946 and 1947, and joint income tax returns for the calendar years 1948 through 1953. Anna Jaeger is involved only because of the joint returns which she filed with her husband. Jaeger Motor Car Company (hereinafter called "Motor Company" or "J.M.C."), a Wisconsin corporation, of which Mr. Jaeger was president and the majority stockholder,1 filed income tax returns for the years 1945 through 1953.

These consolidated proceedings involved deficiencies and additions to tax as determined by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. In large part the facts were stipulated. The Tax Court found that there were deficiencies in income taxes and deficiencies in additions to tax for the years 1945, 1946, 1947 and 1948. The petitioner sought review in this Court.

No issue is taken respecting the deficiency assessments against Jaeger Motor Car Company or Mr. Jaeger for 1946, 1947 or 1948. It is contended, however, that deficiency assessment for 1945 is barred by the Statute of Limitations, and that findings of fraudulent returns by Mr. Jaeger in 1945, 1947 and 1948, and by the Motor Company in 1945, 1946, 1947 and 1948, are erroneous and unsupported by the evidence.2

In his deficiency notices, the Commissioner determined unreported income by net worth computation.3 The notices of deficiency for 1945 taxes were mailed to Mr. Jaeger and the Motor Company on December 29, 1954, and January 18, 1955, respectively. No consents extending the period of assessment were filed for the calendar year 1945. The petitioners, as indicated, contended that assessment of tax deficiencies for 1945 was barred by the Statute of Limitations. The Tax Court found that the three-year limitation was inapplicable here because a portion of the deficiency for each year, 1945 through 1948, was due to fraud with intent to evade tax.

Where a return is false and fraudulent, with intent to evade tax, assessment and collection of deficiency may be made at any time. Internal Revenue Code of 1939, § 276(a), 26 U.S.C.A. § 276 (a). Fraud is a question of fact. Determination of fraud must be supported by substantial evidence. Where there is substantial evidence to support the conclusion of the Tax Court, we may not substitute our judgment of the fact of fraud for that of the Tax Court. Helvering v. Kehoe, 1940, 309 U.S. 277, 279, 60 S.Ct. 549, 84 L.Ed. 751 and cases therein cited. Prokop v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 7 Cir., 1958, 254 F.2d 544, 555.

The petitioners argue that the Commissioner's net worth determination was accepted by the Tax Court, not because it was affirmatively proved accurate, but because petitioners were unable to demonstrate that it was wrong. The petitioners contend that the Tax Court thus committed error because in sustaining an imposition of the fraud penalty, the burden is upon the Commissioner to show fraud by clear and convincing evidence.

The Tax Court found numerous instances of discrepancies between the taxpayers' books and accounting records and the actual income received. This satisfied the Tax Court that the taxpayers' books and records were inaccurate and inadequate for determining the tax liability. Computation of income by the net worth method was, therefore, justified. Holland v. United States, 1954, 348 U.S. 121, 131, 75 S.Ct. 127, 99 L.Ed. 150; H. A. Hurley v. C. I. R., 1954, 22 T.C. 1256, 1261 affirmed 6 Cir., 1956, 233 F.2d 177.

Most of the items comprising the Commissioner's net worth computation were stipulated. One contested item was the cash on hand on December 31, 1944. The Commissioner introduced evidence to show that in 1926, when Mr. Jaeger opened his automobile dealership, his net worth was about $12,000, and that substantially all his cash was used to finance the dealership. He closed his personal checking and savings account. In his testimony, Mr. Jaeger said that he did not draw all his money out in 1926, that he left some money in the bank. He and his wife had no personal savings account from 1928 until May 11, 1943, and no personal checking account from 1928 until December 19, 1946. Mr. Jaeger maintained a checking account as a sole proprietorship under the name of Jaeger Motor Car Company from November 23, 1926 until December 4, 1934 when Jaeger Motor Car Company, the corporation, took over the dealership. The corporation had opened a checking account July 10, 1934, and maintained it thereafter.

The Tax Court found that when in its early years the business was in a weak cash position with repeated bank overdrafts, all Mr. Jaeger's available cash, including money borrowed by him, was placed in the business; and that he had no cash accumulation at the end of 1936. Mr. Jaeger had large outstanding loans in 1936 and the years immediately following.4

Mr. Jaeger, in April, 1952, at an informal conference with the Commissioner's investigators, stated that he had $5,000 cash at the end of 1944. Later in 1952, Mr. Jaeger's accountant submitted a statement in which cash on hand was estimated at $50,000, and then corrected to $56,000, for December 31, 1944. In another statement Mr. Jaeger placed the cash on hand at a figure of $35,000. In his petition to the Tax Court, he alleged it to be $51,000. In his testimony, he said at the trial, once that he did not know the figure, and another time that he estimated it at $35,000.

Mr. Jaeger offered several explanations of the source of this cash. He described it as accumulated from salary and earnings, in 1940 through 1945. When investigation negatived that assertion, he said he had cash on hand when he went into business in 1926 and had accumulated more cash since then.

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284 F.2d 127, 6 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5874, 1960 U.S. App. LEXIS 3311, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jaeger-motor-car-company-v-commissioner-of-internal-revenue-two-cases-ca7-1960.