John A. v. United States

213 F. Supp. 224, 18 Oil & Gas Rep. 794, 11 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 725, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10298
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedJanuary 4, 1963
DocketCiv. A. No. 1972
StatusPublished

This text of 213 F. Supp. 224 (John A. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
John A. v. United States, 213 F. Supp. 224, 18 Oil & Gas Rep. 794, 11 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 725, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10298 (N.D. Tex. 1963).

Opinion

BREWSTER, District Judge.

This action was brought under the provisions of Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 1346(a) (1) by John A. Matthews and wife, Julia Jones Matthews, for a refund of income taxes paid on $1,000,000.00, received by them as consideration for the sale of an oil payment during the calendar year 1955.

The questions presented are whether the proceeds of the sale of the oil payment out of her entire royalty interest were taxable as a capital gain rather than as ordinary income, and, if not, whether the ordinary income should be considered as having been realized in 1956, 1957, 1958 and 1959, the years of the payout of the oil payment, rather than in 1955.

By an instrument dated December 30, 1955, Mrs. Matthews, joined by her husband, in consideration of $1,000,000.00 cash, conveyed to F. & M. Charities “A” Inc. her entire interest in the oil, gas, casinghead gas, gasoline and other mineral royalties in four tracts of land belonging to her separate estate located in the Salt Creek Field in Kent County, Texas. The transfer was in the form of a conveyance, with a habendum clause and a general warranty. Cancelled documentary stamps in the amount of $1,-100.00 were affixed to the instrument at the time of its delivery. The following provisions are quoted from the conveyance:

“This grant shall run, and the rights, titles, and privileges hereby granted shall extend to Grantee herein, and to Grantee’s successors and assigns, for a sufficient period of time to pay said Grantee said amount of One Million ($1,000,000.00) Dollars over and above all amounts paid or deducted on account of taxes or assessments levied upon or against or measured by the production of oil or gas, plus an amount equivalent to interest at the rate of six (6%) per cent per annum calculated monthly on the diminishing unpaid balance of said sum of One Million ($1,000,-000.00) Dollars.
“When Grantee herein, its successors and assigns, shall have received the said net sum of One Million ($1,-000,000.00) Dollars plus an amount equivalent to interest at the rate of six (6%) per cent per annum calculated monthly on the diminishing unpaid balance of said sum, then the title to the estate and the interest herein conveyed and assigned shall revert to Grantor herein, her heirs or assigns.”
“Throughout the effective life of this grant, the undersigned Grantor, [226]*226for herself, her heirs or assigns, covenants and agrees:
“(1) to pay or cause to be paid, before delinquent, all lawful taxes assessed against the undersigned’s royalty interest above described;
“(2) to pay or cause to be paid, before delinquent, all lawful taxes assessed against the interest herein conveyed to F. & M. Charities “A” Inc., a corporation, and to indemnify and save the said F. & M. Charities “A” Inc., a corporation, its successors and assigns, harmless from any liability on account of such taxes:”

The instrument denied the grantee the right to participate in the making of any future oil, gas and mineral leases and in any bonus or rental paid in connection therewith. The royalty interest conveyed did include any production that might be realized from development under any such future leases.

The following allegations in plaintiffs’ complaint regarding the transfer were admitted by the defendant:

“ * * * payment of the stated sum was unconditional and irrevocable whether or not oil continued to be produced from the properties transferred. There was no agreement or personal obligation on the part of plaintiffs, or either of them, to return all or any part of the sum received by them from the purchaser under any condition, nor was there any guaranty by plaintiffs, or either of them, that purchaser would receive the sum stated out of production from the properties. The plaintiffs have never been engaged in the business of buying and selling oil, gas and mineral leases or oil, gas and mineral royalties, or any other form of interest in oil, gas or minerals.”

F. & M. Charities “A” Inc. was organized and operated for charitable purposes. Its net assets were relatively small at the time it bought the oil payment, and it had no money of its own to make the purchase from the Matthews. The method used in this transaction was its primary source of raising money.

While the Matthews oil payment provided for interest at 6% per annum to the F. & M. Charities “A” Inc., the Charity got a loan of $1,000,000.00 from an Abilene bank at 5% with which to pay the Matthews the purchase price. The 1% interest was the income of the Charity. The loan was made on a promissory note executed by the Charity, with the oil payment as the only collateral security.

The loan of the $1,000.000.00 by the Abilene bank in this case was participated in by one of the large Dallas banks. It was supported by a petroleum engineer’s evaluation report from the oil department of the Dallas bank, which estimated that the $1,000.000.00 plus 6% interest would be paid out in about forty-five months. It did pay out in August, 1959.

While there is always some hazard connected with the recovery of money advanced for an oil payment, the payout in the Matthews transaction could be and was determined with sufficient accuracy for it to be in fact a mere assignment of future income.

The Salt Creek Field had an established and good record for producing oil. It was large enough that it included a number of other tracts besides those belonging to Mrs. Matthews. The Field was operated on a unitized basis, and her proportion of the entire production was 2.72%. The Field had met its allowable for the two years prior to the sale of the oil payment. The production in number of barrels of oil from the entire Field during the years 1954-1961, both inclusive, was:

Year Barrels of Oil

1954 3,363,149

1955 4,059,306

1956 3,986,028

1957 3,589,634

1958 2,801,776

1959 3,873,834

1960 3,275,360

1961 3,181,566

[227]*227The gross price per barrel paid for oil produced from the Salt Creek Field, without deductions for production tax, during the period from December, 1954 through April, 1962, was:

December 1954 through December 1956 - $2.89

January 1957 through November 1957 - $3.13

December 1957 through November 1958 - $3.15

December 1958 through November 1959 - $3.07

December 1959 through March 1962 - $3.00

April 1962 - $2.99

The plaintiffs filed their joint individual income tax return for the year 1955, in which the $1,000,000.00 in question was reported as a long term capital gain from the sale of a capital asset. They acted in good faith upon the advice of tax counsel. When the return was audited by the Internal Revenue Service, a deficiency in income taxes was determined as a result of treatment of the $1,000,000.00 as ordinary income received in the calendar year 1955. The plaintiffs paid the additional tax on such amount under protest, and timely filed their claim for refund. The claim was rejected and the plaintiffs duly instituted this suit for the refund.

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213 F. Supp. 224, 18 Oil & Gas Rep. 794, 11 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 725, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10298, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/john-a-v-united-states-txnd-1963.