Malcom v. Commissioner

36 B.T.A. 358, 1937 BTA LEXIS 731
CourtUnited States Board of Tax Appeals
DecidedJuly 20, 1937
DocketDocket Nos. 81192, 82651.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 36 B.T.A. 358 (Malcom v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Board of Tax Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Malcom v. Commissioner, 36 B.T.A. 358, 1937 BTA LEXIS 731 (bta 1937).

Opinion

OPINION.

Smith:

These proceedings, consolidated for hearing, involve income tax deficiencies for 1932 and 1933 of $1,604.27 and $1,401.74, respectively. Petitioner alleges that the respondent erred in the determination of the deficiencies by including $10,443.25 and $2,346.91, respectively, in gross incomes for 1932 and 1933, representing amounts of income received by a trust of which she was the sole_ life income beneficiary, even though not paid over to her during the taxable years.

The parties have stipulated that the petitioner is entitled to deductions from gross income in addition to those reported on the returns of $205.11 for 1932 and $534.89 for 1933, representing taxes paid to Great Britain.

The petitioner is a citizen of the United States and the daughter of Robert E. Westcott, who died a resident of the City, County, and State of New York, on April 23, 1907, leaving as his survivors his widow and the petitioner. The decedent left a last will and testament which was duly admitted to probate and recorded.

Under paragraph sixth of his will the decedent bequeathed the residue of his estate in trust to be held during the lives of his widow and the petitioner, the income to be paid in accordance with the terms thereof. The decedent’s widow, the mother of the petitioner, died in 1919, after which time the petitioner was entitled to receive the entire net income of the trust estate.

On August 19,1931, the trustees of the trust were the petitioner, the Chase National Bank of the City of New York, and Stephen C. Millett, Jr., and on that date as such trustees they executed a lease agreement covering premises located at the corner of 181st Street and Broadway, New York City, with the Masol Realty Corporation, a New York corporation. The lease agreement was made on the basis of the petition filed by the trustees with the Supreme Court for the County of New York in New York City on April 21, 1931, and was entered into subsequent to orders of that court under dates of June 27 and August 12, 1931.

On March 3, 1920, the then acting trustees had by an agreement in writing leased the above mentioned premises to D. A. Schulte, Inc., a New York corporation, for a term of 21 years beginning May 1, 1920, and ending May 1,1941.

On or about April 8, 1924, D. A. Schulte, Inc., sublet for the term of the lease the above mentioned premises to the Masol Realty Corporation, which on that date became and ever since has been the sublessee.

[360]*360In 1931 the Masol Realty Corporation, desiring to insure its continued possession of the premises for a term beyond May 1, 1941, opened negotiations with the trustees for a 21-year lease covering a term from May 1,1941, to May 1,1962. The trustees were unwilling to make this proposed new lease without receiving a cash payment from the Masol Realty Corporation and it was agreed, therefore, subject to certain qualifications, that the Masol Realty Corporation should make 10 annual payments to the trustees of substantially $10,000 each, known as “annual consideration payments” between the years 1931 and 1941, when the new lease went into effect.

Under date of May 11, 1933, an agreement was entered into by and between the trustees and the Masol Realty Corporation whereby the “annual consideration payments” provided for in the agreement of October 19, 1931, were reduced. On May Y, 1934, the trustees entered into an additional agreement with the Masol Realty Corporation by which the trustees waived for a period payment of the “annual consideration payments” as reduced by the aforesaid agreement of May 11, 1933.

The petitioner did not in 1932 or 1933 receive, and has not since received, the above mentioned “annual consideration payments” or any part thereof from the trustees. The trustees received from the Masol Realty Corporation on account of the aforesaid “annual consideration payments” $10,443.25 in 1932 and $2,346.91 in 1933, and ever since their receipt have held and retained such payments and continue to hold them in a special account as and for distribution to unascertained beneficiaries, and the trustees reported these sums in fiduciary income tax returns for the years 1932 and 1933 as “undistributed income.”

Under the lease agreement entered into on August 19, 1931, to begin May 1, 1941, rentals were to be paid by the Masol Realty Corporation upon the basis of a 6 percent return upon the appraised value of the land as of May 1, 1941, plus $6,400 per annum, less 2 percent per annum for depreciation on the agreed value of the buildings, and for the period May 1, 1952, to May 1, 1962, at the annual rate of 6 percent upon the appraised value of the land at May 1, 1952, plus $4,640, less depreciation at the rate of 2 percent per annum on the buildings. The lease provided:

It is expressly understood and agreed that as part consideration for the making of this lease by the Landlords to the Tenant and as a condition precedent to the taking by the Tenant of possession of the premises under this lease and as a condition precedent to the commencement of the term hereof, there shall be paid by the Tenant to the Landlords in addition to any and all other payments required to be made hereunder, sums of money hereinafter also called “annual consideration payments” in equal monthly payments in advance as follows: At the rate of seven thousand five hundred ($7,500.) per annum from the date hereof until October 1, 1931, or until the commencement of the [361]*361term hereof if the same should commence on a day earlier than October 1, 1931; and at the rate of Ten thousand dollars ($10,000.) per annum from October 1, 1931 to May 1, 1941, or until the commencement of the term hereof if the same should commence on a date after October 1, 1931 and before May 1, 1941. Such payments shall be made with adjustment for any period less than one month.

Petitioner has kept her books of account and filed her income tax returns on the cash receipts and disbursements basis. The trustees likewise kept their books of account and filed their returns upon the same basis.

On September 10, 1935, an additional income tax for the year 1932 in the amount of $1,604.27 was paid by the petitioner and thereafter interest on such sum was also paid by her. On about April 11, 1936, an additional income tax for the year 1933 of $1,401.74 was likewise paid by the petitioner and thereafter interest on such sum was also paid by her.

The question presented by this proceeding for the determination of the Board is whether the petitioner is liable to income tax for the years 1932 and 1933 upon the amounts of $10,443.25 and $2,346.91, received by the trust in 1932 and 1933, but not actually paid over to her during those years. The respondent contends that these amounts constitute taxable income of the petitioner for those years upon the ground that the petitioner was the sole life income beneficiary of the trust and that the amounts represented income received by the trust currently distributable to her. The contention of the petitioner is that they were not currently distributable to her and that she therefore is not taxable upon them.

Section 161 (a) (1) and (b) and section 162 (b) of the Revenue Act of 1932 determined persons subject to taxation upon “annual consideration payments” involved in these proceedings. They read as follows:

SEC. 161. IMPOSITION OP TAX.

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Related

Estate of Bruchmann, etc. v. Commissioner
53 T.C. 403 (U.S. Tax Court, 1969)
Malcom v. Commissioner
36 B.T.A. 358 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1937)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
36 B.T.A. 358, 1937 BTA LEXIS 731, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/malcom-v-commissioner-bta-1937.