Koppelman v. Commissioner

27 T.C. 382, 1956 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 27
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedNovember 29, 1956
DocketDocket Nos. 51067, 51068, 51069
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 27 T.C. 382 (Koppelman 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
Koppelman v. Commissioner, 27 T.C. 382, 1956 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 27 (tax 1956).

Opinion

Tietjens, Judge:

The Commissioner determined the following deficiencies in the petitioners’ income taxes for the year 1946:

Docket No. Deficiency
$3,408. 77 51067
51068 2, 874. 09
51069 3, 813. 92

These deficiencies arose as a result of the Commissioner’s disallowance of certain portions of 1948 net operating loss carrybacks claimed by each of the petitioners. The bulk of each loss carryback consisted of each petitioner’s share of a bad debt of $42,642.56 allegedly sustained in 1948 by the partnership, in which they were partners, in the ordinary course of its trade or business. The only issue for determination is whether the partnership sustained a business bad debt loss in 1948.

FINDINGS OF FACT.

The petitioners in this case are Edward Koppelman, Sanford Koppelman, and Hyman Koppelman. They are individuals who were residents of Cleveland, Ohio, during the taxable years 1946 to 1948, inclusive.

During the years 1946 to 1948, and for a number of years prior thereto the petitioners were members of a partnership doing business under the name of Ohio State Beverage Company, hereinafter referred to as the partnership, with its principal office located at Cleveland, Ohio.

Edward, Sanford, and Hyman filed their individual income tax returns for 1946 and 1948 with the then collector of internal revenue for the eighteenth district of Ohio. They also filed or caused to be filed partnership returns of income for the partnership for those years with the same collector.

During the years 1946 to 1948 the partnership was engaged in the business of operating retail beer, wine, and soft drink beverage stores in Cleveland and throughout the State of Ohio. It also operated home delivery routes throughout Cuyahoga County as part of the beverage business. In 1948 it operated the Trenton Sales Agency which concentrated on the sale, promotion, and advertising of Imp Ale. At the peak of its operations in 1947 the partnership operated 17 retail stores in Cleveland and 15 others in various counties of Ohio.

The partnership was formed in 1942, though the petitioners who are brothers had been in business with another brother, Joseph Koppelman, for several years prior to that. A fifth brother, Harry Koppelman, was a partner from 1942 until 1944. Edward, Joseph, Sanford, and Hyman are hereinafter referred to collectively as the partners.

In 1948 Joseph, who had been in the beverage business since 1931, was the managing partner of the partnership.

During the first 9 months of 1946 the retail beer business in Cleveland was booming. However, grain was being rationed to the various breweries in the United States on a percentage basis and a shortage of beer arose as a result. Retail outlets were consistently sold out of beer. This condition existed from approximately April 1946 to the close of September 1946, at which time the Government dropped grain restrictions to breweries.

The partnership’s beer supply was seriously threatened by the grain shortage. In order to maintain existing stores and to secure beer for their accounts and home delivery routes, the partners decided to purchase a brewery, in spite of the fact that they had no experience, in manufacturing beer. In March or April of 1946 they purchased more than 90 per cent of the stock of the Trenton Brewing Company, an Illinois corporation, hereinafter referred to as Trenton, and $38,-500 in Trenton’s notes, which were secured by a mortgage on the equipment, buildings, and fixtures of the brewery. The notes were previously held by Trenton’s former officers and stockholders. The total purchase price was $95,000. Trenton could produce about 4,000 cases of beer per week with its quota of grain. Hence, if one-third of this was left in the local market then the partnership would receive approximately 2,500 cases per week from Trenton during the period grain was rationed.

Ohio regulations, in 1946 and subsequent years, did not permit stores engaged in the sale of beer at retail to import beer directly from out of State. Also, a retail store was permitted only to sell beer at the retail level though a wholesaler could sell beer at both wholesale and retail. During the years 1946 to 1948 the partnership held only retail permits. The partners satisfied themselves that they were not violating Ohio law by operating retail stores in Ohio and at the same time being stockholders of a brewery corporation operating in Illinois.

In November 1946 the partners held a meeting in Cleveland which concerned the future operations of Trenton. During the summer of 1946 both Trenton and the partnership had made substantial profits as a result of the manufacture and retail sales of the beer brewed by Trenton. However, when the beer shortage ceased, the partnership found that it did not have outlets for the beer brewed by Trenton. Edward, who had been managing Trenton, wished to sell Trenton so that he could return to Cleveland and his family. The other partners however wished to speculate on another grain shortage and thus operate the brewery throughout 1947.

There was no grain shortage in 1947 and there was plenty of beer available that year. Trenton had poor sales and reported an ordinary operating loss of approximately $38,000 on its income tax return for 1947. The partnership had to close some of its stores and sell certain portions of its business in 1947. That year the home delivery route was operated at a loss. The partnership reported a loss in excess of $40,000 for 1947 in its information return.

At the end of 1947 the partners decided to go into a new venture. Although Trenton lost money in 1947, its accounts payable to outsiders was only about $8,000. The partners felt that Trenton could not continue as a regular beer-producing brewery and be successful. However, they thought that with their knowledge of the beer distributorship business through Ohio they could sell a new idea. Therefore they decided to manufacture a 6-ounce bottle of ale at Trenton, which they would sell through the partnership in Ohio. Actually the partners decided to brew beer and add a small amount of ale flavoring to it, rather than manufacture genuine ale, which was the usual procedure of most brewers of ale. Their idea was to hit the market of people who would like ale flavored beer and who would like it in small bottles.

The partners’ main objection to brewing ale in Illinois for sale in Ohio was that the freight rates from Trenton to Ohio were about 25 to 30 cents a case, while delivery charges to outlets in Ohio from a brewery centrally located in Ohio would only cost about 5 cents per case. Hence, prior to their decision, Joseph visited the Consumers Brewing Company in Newark, Ohio, to determine the cost of having the ale manufactured by a third person in Ohio, where the ale was intended to be sold. Consumers Brewery, however, added a markup of 30 to 35 cents per case on their estimated cost and so the partners determined that in spite of the freight rates they would profit more by brewing the ale in Illinois.

The partners thought that they would make a larger profit on the ale by selling it in 6-ounce rather than 12-ounce bottles since the O. P. A.

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Koppelman v. Commissioner
27 T.C. 382 (U.S. Tax Court, 1956)

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Bluebook (online)
27 T.C. 382, 1956 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/koppelman-v-commissioner-tax-1956.