Luden's, Inc. v. United States

196 F. Supp. 526, 8 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5240, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5209
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 18, 1961
DocketCiv. A. No. 25978
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 196 F. Supp. 526 (Luden's, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Luden's, Inc. v. United States, 196 F. Supp. 526, 8 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5240, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5209 (E.D. Pa. 1961).

Opinion

GRIM, District Judge.

This is an action to recover corporate income tax paid because the taxing authorities disallowed a deduction claimed for interest which the taxpayer paid on its debentures.

For an understanding of this case there must be a recital of some corporate history.

William H. Luden, Inc., a Pennsylvania corporation, manufactured and sold cough drops and candies. The manufacturing plant was, and still remains, in Reading, Pennsylvania.

In 1926 or 1927 Daniel W. Dietrich purchased all or substantially all of the outstanding stock of William H. Luden, Inc. Shortly thereafter the name of the corporation was changed to Luden’s, Inc.1

In 1929 a new corporation, Food Industries, Incorporated, was formed under the laws of Delaware. Daniel W. Dietrich transferred all his Luden’s, Inc., stock to Food Industries, Incorporated, in exchange for half of the latter’s common stock. At the same time other members of the Dietrich family transferred stock they held in four other corporations to Food Industries, Incorporaed, in exchange for all of its preferred stock and the remaining half of its common stock. The recipient of the latter was H. Richard Dietrich, brother of Daniel W., so that the two brothers owned all the common stock of Food Industries, Incorporated. The preferred stock of the corporation was held by three Dietrich brothers of the “older generation”, the father and uncles of the two common stockholders. This preferred stock had voting rights only on default on three successive dividends.

In 1951 the original Luden’s, Inc.,2 the manufacturing company, had outstanding 17,000. shares (of 35,000 authorized) of $10 par value stock, all owned by Food Industries, Incorporated. Luden’s, Inc. then had outstanding no preferred stock and no bonds, debentures, or other long-term indebtedness.

In 1951, in order to solve corporate tax problems with the state of Pennsylvania, Food Industries, Incorporated, was merged into Luden’s, Inc., the subsidiary corporation.3 The capital structure of Luden’s, Inc., the surviving corporation, was thereupon changed to 110,000 shares of $100 par value common stock, held half by Daniel W. Dietrich and half by H. Richard Dietrich, and 35,000 shares of $100 par value 6% preferred stock, held by various family trusts, the “older generation” being then deceased. In 1953 another 10,000 shares of preferred stock was issued.

Following the merger, the assets of the surviving corporation consisted of a portfolio of investment securities formerly held by Food Industries, Incorporated, and the plant and manufacturing business formerly held by the subsidiary. This business was operated as the Lu-[528]*528den’s division of the surviving corporation.

In June of 1954, the name of the surviving corporation, Luden’s, Inc., was changed to The Dietrich Corporation. At the same time a new corporation, Luden’s Inc., was formed under the laws of Pennsylvania as a subsidiary of the surviving corporation. It is this subsidiary which is the taxpayer and plaintiff in this case.

The assets of the surviving corporation’s manufacturing division, including the right to use the name Luden’s, trademarks, and good will, were transferred to the taxpayer in exchange for all of the taxpayer’s common stock and debentures, as follows:

Parent Corporation’s Book Value Additional Cost by Appraisal4 Adjusted Figures Cash $ 100,000.00 $ 100,000.00 Marketable Securities 24,811.94 24,811.94 Accounts Receivable 340,456.34 340,456.34 Inventories 942,662.94 942,662.94 Investments 123,493.06 123,493.06 Plant and Equipment 942,981.71 $1,883,069.85 2,826,051.56 Deferred Charges 9,951.83 9,951.83 $2,484,357.82 $4,367,427.67 Accounts Payable $ 282,551.56 282,551.56 Accrued Liabilities 84,876.11 84,876.11 $ 367,427.67 $ 367,427.67 Excess of Assets over Liabilities $2,116,930.15 $4,000,000.00

The result of this corporate rearrangement is that all of the manufacturing business is held and operated by the taxpayer (subsidiary) and the assets of the surviving (parent) corporation consist solely of investments.

The parent’s reasons for separating the manufacturing business from the investment portfolio were to secure a more efficient operation of the manufacturing business, to create for that business a separate and distinct record of assets, liabilities, and earnings, to facilitate the sale of that business and, in the event of a sale, to lessen or postpone the income tax for which the parent might be liable in consequence.5

The parent is a personal holding company under Section 541 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S.C.A. § 541, and therefore subject to high income tax rates on undistributed income.

The taxpayer’s stock, all held by the parent corporation, consists of 10,000 shares of $100 par value common stock, a total of $1,000,000. The debentures likewise all held by the parent, are $3,-000,000 of 4yz% 15-year registered debentures. There are 30 debentures of $100,000 each,6 transferable only on the [529]*529books of the taxpayer, and redeemable at its option. They are not secured by pledge or mortgage or by guarantee of any third party. On default the principal may be declared due with the consent of 25% of the debenture holders. The promise to pay is unconditional. Interest is payable semi-annually.

Very shortly after the organization of the taxpayer the parent corporation lent the taxpayer approximately $1,000,000 so that it could build up an inventory of its products for the Christmas season. This loan was repaid in 1955, and there was a further similar loan later in 1955 paid before the end of the fiscal year.

The taxpayer paid to the parent corporation in the fiscal years 1955 and 1956 interest on these debentures in the sum of $135,000. The taxpayer claimed these interest payments as deductions on its income tax returns for those years. The deductions claimed were disallowed, additional tax was paid, and, after proper preliminaries, this action was brought to recover the additional tax.

In each of these two taxable years the taxpayer paid dividends of $30 per share on its stock, for a total of $300,000 per year, or $600,000 in all.

Section 163 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S.C.A. § 163, provides :

“§ 163. Interest “(a) General Rule.- — There shall be allowed as a deduction all interest paid or accrued within the taxable year on indebtedness.”

Webster defines interest as:

“8. The price or rate of premium per unit of time that is paid by a borrower for the use of what he borrows: specif., a rate per cent of money paid for the use of money or the forbearance of demanding payment of a debt, * *

From the statute and the dictionary definition it is clear that to constitute interest the payment bearing that label must arise out of indebtedness, and in the creation of that indebtedness there must be an element of borrowing.

The government contends that the taxpayer is not entitled to deduct as interest the payments made on the debentures because the debentures were not indebtedness.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
196 F. Supp. 526, 8 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5240, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ludens-inc-v-united-states-paed-1961.