Krapf v. Commissioner

1978 T.C. Memo. 138, 37 T.C.M. 594, 1978 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 375
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedApril 11, 1978
DocketDocket Nos. 10809-75, 9261-76.
StatusUnpublished

This text of 1978 T.C. Memo. 138 (Krapf 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
Krapf v. Commissioner, 1978 T.C. Memo. 138, 37 T.C.M. 594, 1978 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 375 (tax 1978).

Opinion

FREDERIC G. KRAPF, JR. AND JUNE B. KRAPF, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Krapf v. Commissioner
Docket Nos. 10809-75, 9261-76.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1978-138; 1978 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 375; 37 T.C.M. (CCH) 594; T.C.M. (RIA) 780138;
April 11, 1978, Filed
Robert E. Schlusser, for the petitioners.
Frank Coyne and Carolyn M. Parr, for the respondent.

DAWSON

MEMORANDUM FINDINGS OF FACT AND OPINION

DAWSON, Judge: Respondent determined deficiencies of $132,381 and $73,633 in petitioners' Federal income tax for the years 1970 and 1971, respectively. The issues for our decision are:

(1) Whether amounts disbursed by Frederic G. Krapf Construction Company during 1970 and 1971 for the construction of a yacht constitute taxable dividends to Frederic G. Krapf, Jr., its president and controlling shareholder.

(2) If so, whether petitioners omitted an amount in excess of 25 percent of the gross income stated in their return for 1970, thereby extending the statutory period of limitations on assessments for that taxable year to six years pursuant*376 to section 6501 (e). 1

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated and are found accordingly. The stipulation of facts and the exhibits attached thereto are incorporated herein by this reference.

Frederic G. Krapf, Jr. (hereinafter referred to as petitioner) and June B. Krapf (hereinafter referred to as Mrs. Krapf) resided in Wilmington, Delaware, at the time the petition was filed in this case, Petitioner and Mrs. Krapf timely filed joint individual income tax returns for the calendar years 1970 and 1971 with the Mid-Atlantic Service Center of the Internal Revenue Service, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Krapf is a party in this proceeding solely because she joined with her husband in filing the joint returns.

Petitioner and his three sons, Frederic G., @III, James and Thomas, are involved primarily in the construction industry. The Krapf construction business consists of several corporations: Frederic G. Krapf, Inc., the original business formed by petitioner's father; Frederic G. Krapf Construction Company*377 (hereinafter referred to as Krapf Construction); Middletown Construction Company (hereinafter referred to as Middletown Construction); North-South Construction Company (hereinafter referred to as North-South Construction); Frederic G. Krapf and Son, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Krapf and Son); Innovators of Planners and Developers; and others. Through these corporations, the Krapfs have undertaken all aspects of construction projects from beginning to end. Innovators of Planners and Developers designs buildings and the other corporations construct them. Middletown Construction is licensed to operate in Delaware, North-South Construction is licensed to operate in Florida and Krapf Construction Company is licensed to operate outside Delaware.

The construction techniques used by these corporations originated in England and Holland.One such technique is the Bison system of modular construction which was used to complete a high-rise dormitory in Delaware in record time. Other Krapf projects included constructing an antipollution plant in Louisiana, constructing a Marine studies facility for a Delaware university, offering to construct a state prison in approximately one-third*378 of the construction time projected by others, and operating large self-propelled barges for disposing of pollutants at sea. Petitioner also designed the pumps and electrical relays for a 125 foot university seagoing research vessel and served other parties as a consultant for the use of self-propelled barges.

Krapf Construction has never bid on a project. Instead it presents a conceptual design idea to a customer and negotiates a price for the completed project. The negotiations are conducted with the customer's top executive with decision-making authority. A yacht is conducive to these negotiations because it removes the customer's executive from possible sources of interruption for sufficiently long periods to make a presentation.

The yacht named the Krapfcandoit V is the most recent in a series of yachts used for such negotiations. The Krapfcandoit V is an 85 foot ocean-going vessel which is powered by two V-12 diesel engines, each 375 horsepower, driving twin screws through V-drives of petitioner's own design. The purpose of the V-drive design is to permit location of the engine room, which also was designed by petitioner, at the aft end of the vessel as opposed to midship. *379 The engine room itself incorporates a unique system of pumps, piping and valves designed by petitioner for greater safety and compartment flooding control. The vessel is equipped with every safety feature available for its type, including a double bottom, collision bulkheads fore and aft, full navigation equipment, radar and automatic pilot. The interior of the vessel also differs from the ordinary in that all accommodations are the same size, thereby offering equal comfort to all to prevent the possibility of slighting a business guest. For meeting purposes, the vessel has a salon approximately 12 feet wide by 15 feet long which opens out onto the back deck to provide an aggregate length of 25 to 30 feet with a large circular table. The total cost of the yacht was $365,089.30 of which $189,830.34 was paid during 1970 and $106,231.01 was paid during 1971.

The word "Krapfcandoit," used as the name of the yacht, has been the trademark of the Krapf family businesses for over 60 years and was initiated by petitioner's father. The word "Krapfcandoit" is intentionally used by the Krapf businesses to convey to the public the message that those businesses have unique skills that permit

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Bluebook (online)
1978 T.C. Memo. 138, 37 T.C.M. 594, 1978 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 375, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/krapf-v-commissioner-tax-1978.