Leslie v. Commissioner

50 T.C. 11, 1968 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 154
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedApril 2, 1968
DocketDocket No. 2325-65
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 50 T.C. 11 (Leslie 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
Leslie v. Commissioner, 50 T.C. 11, 1968 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 154 (tax 1968).

Opinions

Simpson, Judge:

Tbe respondent determined a deficiency in the income tax of John E. Leslie and Evelyn G. Leslie of $3,848.54 for the taxable year 1959. The only issue for decision is whether, within the meaning of section 265 (2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954,1 any of the indebtedness of Bache & Co., then a partnership engaged in the brokerage business, was incurred or continued to purchase or carry the tax-exempt securities owned by Bache.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts were stipulated, .and those facts are so found.

The petitioners are individuals who were legal residents of New York, N.Y., at the time the petition was filed in this case. They filed a Federal joint income tax return for the taxable year 1959 with the district director of internal revenue, Manhattan, New York. John E. Leslie will be referred to as the petitioner.

The petitioner was a partner of Bache & Co. (Bache), a partnership that kept its books and filed partnership information returns for Federal income tax purposes using the accrual method of accounting. Its 1959 taxable year, which is involved in this case, ended on January 31,1959. The petitioner’s share of Bache’s net profits for the partnership’s 1959 taxable year was 2.75344 percent. Hereafter, unless otherwise noted, all findings of fact in regard to the operations of Bache are limited to its 1959 taxable year.

Bache’s business consisted of buying and selling, as a broker for customers, securities traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, other exchanges of which it was a member, and the over-the-counter market. Bache also bought and sold, as a broker for customers, commodity contracts traded on various commodity exchanges; bought and sold, as a dealer, over-the-counter securities and tax-exempt bonds; underwrote both taxable and tax-exempt securities; loaned to customers on margin to assist them in financing the purchase of securities; and provided investment and financial counseling. In addition, Bache had investments for its own account in both taxable and tax-exempt securities.

Bache acquired tax-exempt securities as a dealer for resale to customers, either by purchasing such securities on the open market or through its participation in syndicates that underwrote new issues of tax-exempt securities. In addition, Bache accepted orders from customers for tax-exempt securities. Bache also maintained a market in issues that it underwrote or in which it dealt. It did not encourage investment by the firm in such securities, and the securities were sold as quickly as possible. A “bouse rule” of Bache required the securities to be sold within 90 days.

None of the tax-exempt securities owned by Bache was used as collateral for any indebtedness incurred or continued by Bache because such use would, among other things, make it necessary for Bache to substitute such securities frequently since they are issued in small denominations, require the banks to use more physical space for their storage since such securities have more bulk than stock certificates, and require the banks to clip coupons from many of the securities. In addition, B ache’s legal counsel advised that the use of tax-exempt securities as collateral for indebtedness might jeopardize the tax-exempt status of the interest on such securities.

Bache made many loans to customers with “margin accounts,” and such loans constituted a significant source of profit to Bache since the interest rate on the margin account loans was at least one-half of 1 percent above the interest rate charged to Bache on its borrowings from the major banks. A margin account is a type of credit account, and its operation may be described as follows: A customer, desiring to borrow money to finance a portion of the cost of purchasing securities, opens a margin account with Bache. The customer then deposits cash in the amount required by the rules of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the national securities exchanges of which Bache is a member. Such amount is usually a fixed percentage of the value of the securities to be purchased. The balance of the purchase price is then loaned by Bache to the customer, and the securities are pledged with Bache as collateral. Bache is authorized to repledge the securities purchased by customers on margin as collateral for its own borrowings. The extension of credit by Bache to customers having margin accounts tends to tie the customers to channeling their securities transactions through Bache.

Under the rules of the New York Stock Exchange, Bache could not pledge securities in any customer’s margin account to a bank as collateral for borrowings by Bache in excess of 140 percent of the amount loaned by Bache to the customer. When a customer sold the securities in his margin account or repaid his indebtedness to Bache, the securities were required to be released from the pledge to Bache and, accordingly, from any repledge that Bache may have made of the same securities as collateral for its own borrowings.

There were no restrictions on the use of proceeds obtained by Bache from the repledge of customers’ securities to banks; such proceeds could be used by Bache for any purpose of its business.

Bache was required by the rules of the New York Stock Exchange to maintain capital resources in the ratio of 1 to 20 of its total indebtedness. In practice, a ratio in excess of 1 to 15 was not favored by the exchange, and Bache tried to maintain its ratio between 1 to 12 and 1 to 14%. In addition to funds obtained from its general and limited partners, its capital resources included funds obtained by subordinated indebtedness. Bache obtained capital funds from customers who agreed, for a consideration, to subordinate their loans to the claims of general creditors and from other lenders who agreed, in exchange for a higher interest rate, to the subordination of their loans.

Generally, all cash receipts and disbursements of Bache were deposited and withdrawn daily from various general-purpose checking accounts maintained by Bache. Bache’s deposits in such accounts included proceeds from bank borrowings and the securing of subordinated indebtedness, receipts from sales of securities owned by both Bache and its customers, cash advances by customers, cash from other brokers given as security for securities that Bache loaned to such brokers, and cash from advances and capital contributions from partners. Disbursements from such accounts included payment for purchases of securities by both Bache and its customers, cash withdrawals by customers, payment of principal and interest on loans to banks and subordinated lenders, payment of amounts due to other brokers, withdrawals by partners, and the replenishment of funds and special checking accounts maintained to pay operating expenses of Bache.

In Bache’s general purpose checking accounts, funds were completely commingled so that the source of such funds could not be traced through the accounts to any particular application of the funds. For example, the proceeds from bank loans secured by customers’ securities were commingled in the general accounts with all other proceeds of Bache; then, from such accounts, Bache, among other things, both loaned 'funds to customers for the purchase of securities on margin and made payments for the purchase of tax-exempt securities.

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Leslie v. Commissioner
50 T.C. 11 (U.S. Tax Court, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
50 T.C. 11, 1968 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leslie-v-commissioner-tax-1968.