Luton v. Commissioner

18 T.C. 1153, 1952 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 88
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedSeptember 29, 1952
DocketDocket No. 32533
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 18 T.C. 1153 (Luton 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
Luton v. Commissioner, 18 T.C. 1153, 1952 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 88 (tax 1952).

Opinions

OPINION.

Black, Judge:

In summary, the pertinent facts are these, that petitioner during 1948 received income and sustained losses as follows:

Item Amount
(1) Salary and interest income-$4,441.35
(2) Loss upon the sale of equipment used in the operation of the restaurant- 8, 830. 70
(3) Loss in the operation of a restaurant- 3, 667.19

The first issue is whether the loss upon the sale of the equipment used in the operation of the restaurant in the amount, of $8,830.70 is a part of petitioner’s net operating loss within the meaning of section 122 (a) of the Code, which provision is set forth in the margin.1

The petitioner’s contention here, and his authority, were rejected by the Court of Appeals in Sic v. Commissioner, 177 F. 2d 469, certiorari denied 339 U. S. 913, affirming 10 T. C. 1096. For the reasons stated by us in the Sic case, supra, and by the Eighth Circuit in affirming us, we decide the first issue for the respondent. The Sic case, and other cases cited therein which are controlling on the first issue, stand for the proposition that the loss upon the sale of property used in an individual’s business may not be incorporated into and become a part of the statutory net operating loss. Applying this principle of law to the facts presented in this proceeding, the petitioner’s statutory net operating loss is limited to $3,667.19, the amount of the loss which it has been stipulated was actually sustained by petitioner in the operation óf his restaurant business during 1948, see Item (3) in the summary of facts above.

The second issue, stated as a proposition of law by respondent in his brief, is that “The operating loss from the operation of the restaurant must be offset against the salary [and interest] and there is no resultant net operating loss.” Neither petitioner nor respondent has cited cases relating to this point of law, and we have found none. It, of course, goes without saying that if the only loss which petitioner had in 1948 was his operating loss of $3,667.19 from his restaurant business, there would be no net operating loss to carry back to 1946, because he had gross income of $4,441.35 in 1948 from other sources and that would be more than sufficient to absorb his net operating loss from his restaurant. But petitioner’s net operating loss of $3,667.19 was not his only loss. He had a loss of $8,830.70 from the sale of his restaurant equipment and it is how to treat that loss which presents the problem with which we have here to deal. The question, therefore, is one involving the method to be used in computing petitioner’s net operating loss for 1948, which petitioner would have us compute as follows:

Tear — 1948
(a) Salary and interest income-$4,441.35
■(b) Less: Loss upon sale of assets used in operation of the restaurant_ 8,830.70
(c) Unused portion of loss upon sale of assets_ 4,389.35
(d) Loss from (c) available for carry-bach purposes_ 4,389.35
(e) Loss in the operation of the restaurant_ 3,667.19
(f) Loss available for carry-back purposes_$8,056.54

At this point it is to be noted that we have already decided (b) above may not be included in the statutory net operating loss and that petitioner’s net operating loss may not exceed $3,667.19, see (e). As so corrected, then petitioner’s computation, as we view it, should be as follows:

Tear — 1948
(a) Salary and interest income_$4,441.35
(b) Less: Loss upon sale of assets used in operation of restaurant_ 8,830.70
(c) Unused portion of loss upon sale of assets- 4,389.35
(d) Loss from (c) above available for carry-back purposes_ 0
(e) Add: Loss in the operation of the restaurant_ 3,667.19
(f) Loss available for carry-back purposes___$3, 667.19

In this computation we note that first of all petitioner takes the difference between (a) and (b). The loss upon the sale of the non-capital assets, (b), exceeds the interest income and salary received by petitioner during that year. As a result of this first step, there remains no income by which the operating loss sustained in the operation of the business, (e), must be reduced in computing petitioner’s statutory net operating loss. Accordingly, the net operating loss of the petitioner for the year 1948 under this method of computation would be $3,667.19.

Respondent, on the other hand, contends the computation of petitioners net operating loss for the year 1948 must be computed as follows:

a. Salary and interest income-$4,441. 35
b. Less: Loss in the operation of the restaurant — ,._ 3,667.19
c. Net — Balance of petitioner’s income- 774.16
d.Less: Loss upon sale of assets used in the operation of the restaurant--- 8,830.70
e. Net — Unused portion of loss upon sale of assets used in the operation of the restaurant_ 8,056. 54
f. Loss available for carry-back purposes- 0

It is the respondent’s contention that in computing petitioner’s net operating loss for the year 1948, the net loss incurred in the operation of the business must first be applied to offset petitioner’s salary and interest income and that the loss realized by petitioner upon the sale of his business assets may not be applied first to offset petitioner’s salary and interest income. Under respondent’s computation, since petitioner’s salary and interest income exceed his net operating loss from the restaurant, there is no statutory net operating loss sustained by petitioner during the year 1948.

As we heretofore stated, there appeared tó be no previous cases involving this question and the Code is silent on the subject. The statutory definition of “net operating loss” is contained in section 122 (a) of the Code, supra, which refers us in turn to subsection - (d) of section 122. In this subsection six adjustments are provided for, and of these adjustments only (4) and (5) have been cited by the parties as having any application here. They are set forth in the margin.2

In respect to subsection (4), which relates to gains and losses from sales or exchanges of capital assets, the loss sustained by petitioner upon the sale of the equipment used in the operation of his restaurant was not a loss from the sale of capital assets for the reason that the assets in question are not capital assets.

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Luton v. Commissioner
18 T.C. 1153 (U.S. Tax Court, 1952)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
18 T.C. 1153, 1952 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 88, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/luton-v-commissioner-tax-1952.