Lair v. Commissioner

95 T.C. No. 35, 95 T.C. 484, 1990 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 104
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedNovember 6, 1990
DocketDocket No. 8364-88
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 95 T.C. No. 35 (Lair 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
Lair v. Commissioner, 95 T.C. No. 35, 95 T.C. 484, 1990 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 104 (tax 1990).

Opinion

OPINION

RAUM, Judge:

The Commissioner determined deficiencies in income tax and additions to tax against petitioners, Webster Lair and Pearl Lair, husband and wife, for the calendar years 1984 and 1985 in the following amounts:

Year Deficiency Sec. 6653(a)(1)1 Sec. 6653(a)(2) Sec. 6661
1984 $21,480 $1,340 * $5,370
1985 294 161 *
*50 percent of the interest due on $26,793 for 1984 and $3,226 for 1985.2

The case was submitted on the basis of a stipulation of facts and accompanying exhibits. Webster Lair alone participated in the transactions involved; he will be referred to herein as petitioner or Webster. The principal issue is whether petitioner’s payment of $141,000 to a bank in 1984 pursuant to a guarantee agreement of June 14, 1984, on behalf of his son, Paul, was deductible in 1984 as a bad debt under section 166 of the Code and section 1.166-9(e), Income Tax Regs. Petitioners resided in Emmons, Minnesota, when they filed the petition in this case.

Up until his retirement, Webster had been engaged in the business of farming. The stipulation does not disclose precisely when he retired. However, the returns for 1984 and 1985 accompanying the stipulation state his “occupation” as “retired.” No other returns are before us. The record does indicate that the farming operations were conducted by him until 1977, and then until 1979 by him and his two sons, David and Paul. The record further indicates that thereafter, until March 1983, the farming business was conducted by a partnership consisting of David and Paul, and beginning in March 1983 by Paul alone. To the extent that the time of Webster’s retirement may be thought to be significant, the burden of proof was upon petitioners and they must bear the consequences of their failure to carry it.

For many years, Webster had been a customer of First Northwestern National Bank, which later became Norwest Bank Albert Lea, National Association (the bank). He borrowed money from the bank to finance his farming business, and his debt was carried under the name Webster Lair until March 29, 1977. On that day, the loan was paid off and a loan established “under the title of Webster Lair and Sons.” On April 25, 1979, “the loan was renewed under the title of Lair Brothers (David and Paul Lair).”3 On April 21, 1981, Webster signed a guarantee agreement with the bank in which he guaranteed the payment of “all present and future debts” of the borrower (identified as “Lair Brothers”) up to a principal amount of $300,000. The parties have stipulated that “The loan to Lair Brothers was renewed by Norwest Bank on April 23, 1980, March 11, 1981 and in April of 1982.” Although the stipulation uses the word “loan” throughout, other materials in the record indicate that until 1984 there was not a specific loan, but rather a line of credit for the year involved with an anticipated aggregate amount or possibly a ceiling for that year. Similarly, the words “renewed” or “renewal” were undoubtedly used in the sense that the amount still outstanding at time of the “renewal” became part of a new authorized line of credit. The record fails to contain even a single document in which the borrower became obligated to the bank. Again, to the extent that the terms of the loan or line of credit setting forth the obligations of the borrower may be significant, petitioners must bear the consequences of the inadequacy of the record. The burden of proof was upon them — a burden that is not affected by submission of the case under our Rule 122 on a stipulated record.4

As of March 1983, David was no longer involved in the farming business, which was then carried on by Paul alone. The parties have stipulated that the loan to the Lair Brothers partnership “was renewed in the name of Paul Lair in March of 1983.” The records of the bank disclose that this loan or line of credit was to run for the annual period “2-83 to 2-84,” and that there was a “Maximum Credit [of] $340,000 anticipated to be outstanding at any one time.” As was the case in all prior loans or lines of credit, the borrower’s obligation was supported by collateral of various items of personal property relating to the farm, e.g., livestock, crops, machinery, and equipment. The real estate was owned by Webster and leased to Paul at an annual rent of $40,000, but was not part of the security supporting the borrower’s obligation.

The record does not disclose that there was any comparable “renewal” in 1984 of the 1983 “loan” to Paul by the bank, and, as found hereinafter, Paul did not continue to farm the land after the close of the 1983-84 farming year. Also, there seem5 to be indications of economic difficulties at that time relating to farming, at least as they affected Paul’s farming operations. And the stipulation discloses that in 1984, “petitioners cash-rented the same farm land rented to Paul Lair to an unrelated party for $56,200.00 annual rent.” Since the farming year for petitioner’s farm appears to run from late winter or early spring to the comparable time of the following calendar year, it would appear that Paul had ceased farming no later than April 1984. Petitioners have not shown otherwise.

In 1984, there remained an unpaid balance due to the bank on Paul’s 1983 loan. On June 14, 1984, Webster guaranteed Paul’s 1983 indebtedness to the bank. Unlike Webster’s prior 1981 guarantee (the only other guarantee by Webster in the record),6 which was limited to a specified maximum principal liability in the rounded figure of $300,000, the 1984 guarantee was limited to the specific principal amount of $178,059.88. Webster thus appeared to guarantee only the amount of the then outstanding indebtedness rather than an amount that might thereafter be owed during the year under a line of credit. This circumstance reinforces our conclusion that Paul was no longer farming the land, at least from the start of the 1984 farming season no later than April 1984. We so find as a fact.

On June 14, 1984, the day that Webster executed the foregoing guarantee, he made a $6,000 payment on the loan account. Apparently other payments from undisclosed sources during the following period of approximately 2Vz months had reduced the loan to some extent, and on September 26, 1984, the loan was renewed for $152,874.35. Later that year, in response to demands by the bank for payment pursuant to the June 14, 1984, loan guarantee, Webster made two payments on the loan account, $35,000 on November 6, 1984, and $106,000 on December 28, 1984— a total of $141,000.

Petitioners have stipulated that “Petitioners did not receive any payment in the form of cash or property from David or Paul Lair for guaranteeing the loans in 1981 and 1984, and did not receive any payment in the form of cash or property from David or Paul Lair for any guarantee from 1979 forward.”

On Schedule D of their 1984 return, petitioners claimed a short-term capital loss of $141,000, the amount of Webster’s two payments to the bank on his June 14, 1984, guarantee of the bank’s loan to his son Paul. Among other adjustments, the Commissioner disallowed the $141,000 deduction.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Great Plains Gasification Assocs. v. Comm'r
2006 T.C. Memo. 276 (U.S. Tax Court, 2006)
TESCO DRIVEAWAY CO. v. COMMISSIONER
2001 T.C. Memo. 294 (U.S. Tax Court, 2001)
Wise v. Commissioner
1995 T.C. Memo. 513 (U.S. Tax Court, 1995)
Clanton v. Commissioner
1995 T.C. Memo. 416 (U.S. Tax Court, 1995)
Bragg v. Commissioner
1993 T.C. Memo. 479 (U.S. Tax Court, 1993)
Richards v. Commissioner
1993 T.C. Memo. 422 (U.S. Tax Court, 1993)
Cerbone v. Commissioner
1993 T.C. Memo. 167 (U.S. Tax Court, 1993)
Mauerman v. Commissioner
1993 T.C. Memo. 23 (U.S. Tax Court, 1993)
Fisher v. Commissioner
1992 T.C. Memo. 740 (U.S. Tax Court, 1992)
Lair v. Commissioner
95 T.C. No. 35 (U.S. Tax Court, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 T.C. No. 35, 95 T.C. 484, 1990 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 104, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lair-v-commissioner-tax-1990.